The Apple A15 SoC Performance Review: Faster & More Efficient
by Andrei Frumusanu on October 4, 2021 9:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Mobile
- Apple
- Smartphones
- Apple A15
Conclusion & End Remarks
Today’s investigation into the new A15 is just scratching the tip of the iceberg of what Apple has to offer in the new generation iPhone 13 series devices. As we’re still working on the full device review, we got a good glimpse of what the new silicon is able to achieve, and what to expect from the new devices in terms of performance.
On the CPU side of things, Apple’s initial vague presentation of the new A15 improvements could either have resulted in disappointment, or simply a more hidden shift towards power efficiency rather than pure performance. In our extensive testing, we’re elated to see that it was actually mostly an efficiency focus this year, with the new performance cores showcasing adequate performance improvements, while at the same time reducing power consumption, as well as significantly improving energy efficiency.
The efficiency cores of the A15 have also seen massive gains, this time around with Apple mostly investing them back into performance, with the new cores showcasing +23-28% absolute performance improvements, something that isn’t easily identified by popular benchmarking. This large performance increase further helps the SoC improve energy efficiency, and our initial battery life figures of the new 13 series showcase that the chip has a very large part into the vastly longer longevity of the new devices.
In the GPU side, Apple’s peak performance improvements are off the charts, with a combination of a new larger GPU, new architecture, and the larger system cache that helps both performance as well as efficiency.
Apple’s iPhone component design seems to be limiting the SoC from achieving even better results, especially the newer Pro models, however even with that being said and done, Apple remains far above the competition in terms of performance and efficiency.
Overall, while the A15 isn’t the brute force iteration we’ve become used to from Apple in recent years, it very much comes with substantial generational gains that allow it to be a notably better SoC than the A14. In the end, it seems like Apple’s SoC team has executed well after all.
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Daka - Tuesday, October 5, 2021 - link
It has been tested and iPhone 13 pro max tops Samsung by 1h. Battery is bigger this year as well to over 4300mAh. So as far as it used to be true it isn’t anymore thanks to both increased battery capacity and market leading efficiencyLinustechtips12 - Wednesday, October 6, 2021 - link
one thing I think is fair to mention is that Apple does release their phones in basically mid-September to and the Samsungs generally release in January or February i generally compare something like the soon s22 to the 13 pro because once the new galaxy comes out and is compared to the newest iPhones generally the androids or galaxy does do better or is within about 10 minutes either way.michael2k - Monday, October 4, 2021 - link
The Moto G Power 2021 has a 5000mAh battery for $249, and gets a 14 hour run time, one of the best out there. 150% would suggest 18 hour run time, and I don't see any indication of that being true. But we can say you're exaggerating and give you the point, and say the cheap $250 Android phone gets 118% battery life; at least it's $850 cheaper. Note you're getting a 720p display on a 6.6" screen, which surely helps with the battery life.The 13 Pro Max gets a 12 hour run time, just so it's clear, and outclasses the Moto G Power in CPU performance, GPU performance, camera, and display. If you don't need the extra performance or visual quality then it's a great deal, since you're also getting a few hours of battery life for the difference.
artifex - Tuesday, October 5, 2021 - link
That's actually the phone I use. The 4/64 model. My MVNO had it on sale for $89. As a practical matter I don't notice it's only 720P, even coming from a 1080P phone. This screen doesn't wash out in sunlight like my Moto G6 did, and I can even use it with polarized lenses, which I couldn't do before. It's got enough power to run Genshin Impact, though that eats the battery quickly. But since I suck at phone games, I can let it go without charging for a couple days. Oh, and it charges fast, too; I think it's a 15W charger? The camera isn't exciting, but it works well enough. It's quite the bargain overall. And yes, it's got a headphone jack, and a microSD spot in the sim card slider thing.tonidigital - Thursday, October 7, 2021 - link
18000mAh is fake… Here you can see the battery compared to a 5000mAh of a Samsung S21…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I41ntOTJsO4
Byte - Monday, October 4, 2021 - link
I usually do a 3 year cadence on phones and went from an iPhone X to a 12 pro last year. After 10 months my 12 pro already is at 85% battery health so I was looking to try get it swapped out by warranty, or even pay the $69. But Best buy had a crazy trade in deal for $100 to upgrade to the 13 Pro, which is a no brainer when you factor in the new battery. So far after a week, the battery i feel is about 30% better than my degraded 12 Pro, which is pretty much in line when what is advertised. I feel that if Apple gives a 25% battery improvement ALONE year on year, it would drive me to annual upgrades lol.Prestissimo - Monday, October 4, 2021 - link
I'm just waiting for MacBooks with M1X to arrive...Alistair - Monday, October 4, 2021 - link
Same. Will Apple give us 16GB/500GB and a GPU for the base price? Or will they just take all the cost savings from ARM and jack up the price on the consumer and I'll continue to pretend Apple doesn't exist... Can't wait to find out.headeffects - Monday, October 4, 2021 - link
The existing higher end 13.3” and 16” MacBook pros are 16GB/512GB so I think it’s pretty much guaranteed. I don’t think there will be a price increase either. GPU is something I doubt, but it’s not something I even want. dGPUs are pretty finnicky in laptops and if the high end M1X and it’s rumored 32 GPUs cores beats the existing high end graphics I don’t see why it would matter. It would be faster and more efficient on battery to boot.Alistair - Monday, October 4, 2021 - link
we should get 16GB/500GB for the base macbook pro, then pay extra for the integrated GPU, that's the GPU i was talking about