iPhone 13 Pro The A15 is supposed to be much faster than the Android chips but it's not noticeable

[Retskrad]

Apple has done a tremendous job of marketing Apple Silicon. Before making their own chips, they never talked about the hardware because specs and synthetic benchmarks didn't matter. It was all about the experience of using the product. Fast forwards to today, they love talking about the chips.

Synthetic benchmarks tell us that any given A-series chip is supposed to be much faster than the competition. The iPhone 13 Pro is round 70% faster in single core than the Snapdragon flagship. I have a iPhone 13 Pro and a Pixel 6 Pro and I can't tell the difference in performance. Opening social media apps, using them, browsing the web are literally the same on both devices.

The question is, what is the point of pouring billions in R&D each year if the software can't take advantage of the high performant chips? Is Android a better architected OS that can do with more with less? I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. Google is an engineering company at its core and design is the foundation of Apple. As a result they attract different types of employees. The best designers naturally go to Apple and the best software engineers go to Google.

 

[opuscroakus]

No, they never talked about hardware... *ahem*

 

[Motionblurrr]

Ah yes, I love using a 3 year old phone and having an underpowered chip running the latest software update 😄👍

 

[xTidus]

What differences are you waiting for lol?
There are physical limitations and you can get 70% faster for something that takes only 0,5 sec to load.
But yeah, that's true that the market reached a platform where smartphone is mature, there are no really improvements possible.
The fact is that you'll maybe notice some differences in a few hungry process apps such as games (especially in heat/battery department) but in daily usage you won't notice anything.
Or maybe, you'll notice differences in 2 or more years of usage. Your iPhone is more future proof.

 

[HDFan]

I have a iPhone 13 Pro and a Pixel 6 Pro and I can't tell the difference in performance. Opening social media apps, using them, browsing the web are literally the same on both devices.

but in daily usage you won't notice anything.

Differences in apps with low demands won't show. Differences will show in apps which max out the phones cpu and memory, and storage.

is Android a better architected OS that can do with more with less?

It is actually the opposite, from what I have read. For example Apple iPhones use far less memory than Android. Much more efficient memory management.

 

[shenfrey]

It’s a little ignorant to assume the difference isn’t noticeable , as it depends on the task. I assure you however, when doing said task. there is a very noticeable difference.

 

[drumcat]

"The question is, what is the point of pouring billions in R&D each year if the software can't take advantage of the high performant chips?"

Can you provide any example of this?

 

[Taz Mangus]

It is all about how efficient the CPU is in the smart phone and that translates into how much battery life you can get. It is how much you can accomplish while using the least amount of battery.

The A15 is a beast of the processor even in Low Power mode. In Low Power mode, the 2 performance cores in the A15 are shut down and the 4 efficiency cores are down clocked from 1.8 GHz to 1.37 Ghz. And even in Low Power mode, the iPhone 13 Pro is able to maintain a perfect 60 fps during gaming while only using about 3 watts of power.

 

[ian87w]

Apple has done a tremendous job of marketing Apple Silicon. Before making their own chips, they never talked about the hardware because specs and synthetic benchmarks didn't matter. It was all about the experience of using the product. Fast forwards to today, they love talking about the chips.

Synthetic benchmarks tell us that any given A-series chip is supposed to be much faster than the competition. The iPhone 13 Pro is round 70% faster in single core than the Snapdragon flagship. I have a iPhone 13 Pro and a Pixel 6 Pro and I can't tell the difference in performance. Opening social media apps, using them, browsing the web are literally the same on both devices.

The question is, what is the point of pouring billions in R&D each year if the software can't take advantage of the high performant chips? Is Android a better architected OS that can do with more with less? I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. Google is an engineering company at its core and design is the foundation of Apple. As a result they attract different types of employees. The best designers naturally go to Apple and the best software engineers go to Google.

Google has the best software engineer? LOL. They are so good that they cannot even make a proper messaging service for decades, and dump any products once they got bored with it?

In any case, Apple's SoCs are the cream of the crop in terms of performance per watt. Qualcomm and stock ARM cores have been falling behind for 5 years or so, only going sideways (more performance AND less efficient).

And for what you say? You say you use social media. Try creating and exporting a content in luma fusion, and see how much seamless and faster it is on the iPhone. There's a reason majority of content creators use iPhones. Yes, consuming doesn't take a lot of power.

What your post is saying is that YOU don't need a faster SoC. You're just wasting your own money to Apple by buying the iPhone 13 Pro. You can just use the iPhone 11 Pro and you probably won't notice a difference (other than design). So it's on you.

 

[Andeddu]

If you play games like Genshin Impact and Alien Isolation or any other game that’ll max out your chipset, you should observe a noticeable difference. I can notice a difference between the A12 in my iPad Mini 5 and the A14 in my 12 Mini when playing Alien Isolation which is not noticeable when using undemanding social media and video apps and web-browsing.

 

[Mr. Skeleton]

Android to this day doesn’t feel ‘right’. Sounds like a personal issues with android

 

[Macative]

Apple has done a tremendous job of marketing Apple Silicon. Before making their own chips, they never talked about the hardware because specs and synthetic benchmarks didn't matter. It was all about the experience of using the product. Fast forwards to today, they love talking about the chips.

Synthetic benchmarks tell us that any given A-series chip is supposed to be much faster than the competition. The iPhone 13 Pro is round 70% faster in single core than the Snapdragon flagship. I have a iPhone 13 Pro and a Pixel 6 Pro and I can't tell the difference in performance. Opening social media apps, using them, browsing the web are literally the same on both devices.

The question is, what is the point of pouring billions in R&D each year if the software can't take advantage of the high performant chips? Is Android a better architected OS that can do with more with less? I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. Google is an engineering company at its core and design is the foundation of Apple. As a result they attract different types of employees. The best designers naturally go to Apple and the best software engineers go to Google.

It's no one's fault that you can't tell the difference, or realize where the differences are most prominent.

 

[clevins]

Differences in apps with low demands won't show. Differences will show in apps which max out the phones cpu and memory, and storage.

This is all that needs to be said. Something that loads in half a second and whose use doesn't really tax CPU isn't going to show much difference. It's one reason I still have my XS Max - what I do on it isn't particularly taxing.

Now, if we started doing AR, or if I gamed on it much or wanted to edit the photos and videos in any serious manner on the iphone? Then I'd expect performance to show.

 

[Mr. Awesome]

Ultimately, the difference will show itself a few years from now. Both chips are more than powerful enough to handle today’s OSes, but after a few years of software updates the iPhone will be feeling much faster than the Pixel.

 

[Reggaenald]

What are you talking about? The best designers “naturally” go to Apple? How many things does Apple release that they need the most and the best designers? Make it flat on top, bottom and on the sides. Boom. iEverything.
Also, you’re missing the point.
You don’t benefit from this “performance” browsing social media… obviously that’s snappy on both and almost all devices because it simply is. You don’t need a “Pro” phone for that ? try taking a video for 5 hours and see how differently phones fare then. Try to edit this video and export it.
If you want to know where the benefits are, come back in 5 years and tell us how your current iPhone is still a performer. It’s headroom.

 

[Spetsgruppa]

Buy both the 13 Pro Max and S22 series or Mi 12 series or Oneplus 10 Pro. download 10 games. open all 10 games. try switching games and see which loads faster.

 

[RadioHedgeFund]

You only need to look at the terrible reviews of the Exynos processor in the S22 Ultra to see how far ahead Apple is in terms of silicon.

What the S22 Ultra does have though is a lot of extra hardware features to make up the difference. Apple's allegedly 'Pro' phones are really just a sales technique to make the regular iPhone appear inferior. I think the iPhone 13 is one of the best all-round handsets you can buy; I think their entire Pro line is a complete waste of money. It doesn't even have something as simple as manual camera overrides.

 

[Andeddu]

You only need to look at the terrible reviews of the Exynos processor in the S22 Ultra to see how far ahead Apple is in terms of silicon.

What the S22 Ultra does have though is a lot of extra hardware features to make up the difference. Apple's allegedly 'Pro' phones are really just a sales technique to make the regular iPhone appear inferior. I think the iPhone 13 is one of the best all-round handsets you can buy; I think their entire Pro line is a complete waste of money. It doesn't even have something as simple as manual camera overrides.

This is true. I saw a video of the S22 w/ Exynos processor playing Alien Isolation on YouTube and it genuinely ran a lot worse than my iPad Mini 5 with the A12. The A14 runs the game as smooth as butter with no frame dips but the Exynos looked like a choppy slideshow. Even the A12 delivers a solid experience around the 25-30 FPS mark. The Exynos was dropping well below 20. I don’t know if it’s due to lack of Android optimisation or what but the game was barely playable.

 

[RadioHedgeFund]

This is true. I saw a video of the S22 w/ Exynos processor playing Alien Isolation on YouTube and it genuinely ran a lot worse than my iPad Mini 5 with the A12. The A14 runs the game as smooth as butter with no frame dips but the Exynos looked like a choppy slideshow. Even the A12 delivers a solid experience around the 25-30 FPS mark. The Exynos was dropping well below 20. I don’t know if it’s due to lack of Android optimisation or what but the game was barely playable.

The long story is that Samsung lost a patent dispute with Qualcomm several years ago in the USA. It is cheaper for Samsung to build a Snapdragon S22 Ultra for the USA than pay Qualcomm patent fees on their own processor and 5G modem.

Because other countries have higher import tariffs, Samsung seeks to lower its manufacturing costs so it can maintain the same base price across the entire globe. It means non-US markets get crippled with a barely optimised Exynos processor that can barely handle basic multitasking whilst the USA gets the much nicer Snapdragon model.

 

[Username-already-in-use]

I’m someone who stuck with Android phones for the sole reason of USB-C. I got an iPhone 13 in January as the iPad Mini 6 replaced a lot of the functionality of my Samsung Note 10+ phablet, so this is my first iPhone since the 4S. The lightening cable is still infuriating - but in terms of OS, CPU speed and memory-management Apple is well-ahead of Android. There is a big difference for gaming, I always found there to be input lag in Android phones.

 

[Pandyone]

Opening social media apps, using them, browsing the web are literally the same on both devices.

Well, there you have it, it's like buying a Mac Pro and just watching Youtube or write in Word on it. 15+ years old hardware basically does that as good as newer devices.
Browsing the web or scrolling social media is pretty much the same on high-end phones, both Android and iPhone, as on the cheaper budget Android phones.

Maybe you just created the thread to get some attention, but it just seems like your use case is not taking advantage of the hardware.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

The question is, what is the point of pouring billions in R&D each year if the software can't take advantage of the high performant chips?

Games.