iPhone 15 Pro Geekbench Scores Confirm Apple's Faster A17 Pro Chip Performance Claims, 8GB of RAM

The first Geekbench scores for the iPhone 15 Pro have confirmed Apple's performance improvement claims for its new A17 Pro chip over last year's A16 Bionic chipset found in the iPhone 14 Pro.

iphone 15 pro gray
As spotted by MySmartPrice, the benchmarking platform has recorded an ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ tested in the wild with the model number iPhone 16,1 and a six-core CPU with a base frequency of 3.78GHz.

In the test result, the device scored 2,908 and 7,238 points in the single-core and multi-core tests, while last year's ‌iPhone 14‌ Pro scored 2,642 and 6,739, respectively.

Meanwhile, an ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ Max with the model number iPhone 16,2 scored 2,846 and 7,024 points in the single-core and multi-core tests respectively. That also compares favorably to last years ‌iPhone 14‌ Pro Max, which scored 2,546 and 6,631 points in the same respective tests.

The Geekbench results also recorded 8GB of RAM for both ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ models, compared to 6GB of RAM in last year's Pro models, corroborating previous reporting.

Apple's A17 Pro chip is made with a first-of-its-kind 3-nanometer process. The A17 Pro has a six-core CPU, for 10% faster CPU performance and 20% faster GPU performance. It also has a two-times faster 16-core neural engine to accelerate machine learning such as more accurate autocorrect or pulling a subject from an image. It can process up to 35 trillion operations per second.

In addition, the A17 Pro contains a brand new GPU with an Apple-designed shader architecture. Apple says it is the biggest redesign in the history of Apple GPUs, with a focus on performance and efficiency, running complex applications, and new rendering features.

The ‌‌iPhone 15 Pro‌‌ starts at $999 for 128GB of storage, while the ‌‌iPhone 15 Pro‌‌ Max starts at $1,199 for 256GB of storage. All of the new iPhone 15 models are available to pre-order starting Friday, September 15, and will launch on Friday, September 22 in more than 40 countries and regions around the world.

Related Roundup: iPhone 15 Pro

Top Rated Comments

Skyscraperfan Avatar
2 weeks ago
So you have six instead of five GPU cores and get 20% more performance? That is unexpected.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FastLaneJB Avatar
2 weeks ago
I know some are a bit disappointed with the speed increases here though they aren’t bad. What isn’t talked about and is obviously a big focus for Apple is the Machine Learning part of the chip where they doubled the performance. They obviously feel this is where it makes more sense to invest in performance improvements.

I kind of agree as this can open new features and capabilities not possible before. There’s quite a few new software features being added these days that are driven by those parts of the chips. Things that might help sell more phones vs 10% more CPU performance on a phone that no one I’ve ever come across says is too slow.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
contacos Avatar
2 weeks ago
I wonder how the naming of the chips will work next generation.

Will the iPhone 16 receive a non "Pro" A17 chip while the iPhone 16 Pro will simply receive a minor bump of the existing A17 Pro? Or is it going to be A17 and A18 Pro chip at the same time? Sounds weird
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Boeingfan Avatar
2 weeks ago

I wonder how the naming of the chips will work next generation.

Will the iPhone 16 receive a non "Pro" A17 chip while the iPhone 16 Pro will simply receive a minor bump of the existing A17 Pro? Or is it going to be A17 and A18 Pro chip at the same time? Sounds weird
I think the poverty pack 16 will receive the amateur chip and the pro max will receive the pro chip. Or maybe they could call the base chip a Celeron ?
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kiranmk2 Avatar
2 weeks ago
Very disappointing gains given the move to 3 nm. ~9% increase in performance core clock speed giving ~10% single core boost and 7% multicore boost. Plus (as has been commented on above), 20% more GPU cores giving a 20% GPU speed boost... Taking into account the rumours from the last year about how the A16 was supposed to have ray tracing but it was dropped late in development due to too much power consumption this is starting to look to me like the A17 is just the original A16 envisioned with the power savings from the 3 nm process sacrificed to the power hungry hardware ray-tracing GPUs. I wonder if battery life will be better than stated unless using ray tracing...

Lots of talk in the Apple Silicon forum about whether M3 is based on A16 or A17 - could it be that A16 and A17 are the same (with just ML cores, ray tracing and USB 3.0 in A17)?

In terms of the iPhone 16 SoC - I've read that the current 3 nm process is a stepping stone before the more scalable second gen 3 nm process and that the differences mean you can't just switch a chip from one process to the other, meaning Apple would have to redesign the chip anyway for the second gen process. Whether they chose to redesign the A17 Pro or just design two versions of the A18 will probably come down to a battle between the financial interests of saving money on the production line (i.e. using binned chips for the regular/pro phones) vs "encouraging" people to buy the Pro models through having a higher SoC generation than the non-Pro.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MayaUser Avatar
2 weeks ago

I don’t know, after all the talk all year about this chip, perhaps I was expecting more?

And can some explain ray tracing to me?
the talk was about the base Apple Silicon A17 N3B...because the scaling is even more important
Now we know the whole M3 family will support ray tracing and higher clock speeds, AV1 codec is also good and also based on scaling the M3 Ultra can be something great (not to mention that even the M3 Max is suppose to go for more power than something on the even side like the M1 and M2 Max were)
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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