The fact that Apple brought its fastest 2024 processor to the cheapest 2024 iPhone as well will be welcome news for those who don’t care for the periscope zoom of the Pro series or the larger and quicker screens.
Thank you, Apple Intelligence, for the fastest iPhone 16!
Needless to say, apple didn’t just decide to equip its cheaper iPhone’s with its newest processor from the good of its heart, but was actually sort of forced to do it by the circumstances. The Android competition like Samsung or Oppo already introduced integrated artificial intelligence functionality in their phones before Apple.
AI competitions, however, require a lot of on-device processing power and, it turned out, something that Apple’s cheapest iPhones have never had, namely more RAM.
iPhone 16 is first with 8GB RAM and 4GHz chip!
The theory about insufficient amount of RAM to run Apple Intelligence was first launched by famed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. He theorized that, if the iPad and its M1 chipset can run Apple Intelligence, then the A17 chipset that can run more TOPS shouldn’t have any problems, either, so the problem must be something else.
Apple’s Head of Marketing Greg Joswiak added that anything with M1 and above can run it, but its software head Craig Federighi actually confirmed that Apple Intelligence can only run on devices with at least 8GB RAM, and that’s indeed the reason iPhone 15 was left out.
Fast-forward to today, and we have the first tangible evidence that the iPhone 16 indeed comes with 8GB RAM for the first time on an affordable iPhone. The iPhone 16 Geekbench score listing also confirms the rumor that the Apple A18 processor has indeed pierced the 4GHz clock speed barrier for the first time, too.
iPhone 16 vs iPhone 16 Pro Max A18 processor benchmark
iPhone A18 vs A18 Pro benchmark scores | Image credit – Geekbench
The stripped down version of the Apple A18 for the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus comes with a 6-core processor as well, but a penta-core GPU, compared to the six cores of the graphics processor in the iPhone 16 Pro. The iPhone 16 processor also has reduced cache size compared to the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, and a lower clock speed for the efficiency cores.
Still, it runs neck and neck with the A18 Pro in benchmarks, perhaps due to the fact that the graphics subsystem has to run a smaller and slower display. The key takeaway from the first tangible evidence of the iPhone 16 processor specs, however, is that the phone does ship with 8GB RAM for the first time, and it is the first Apple mobile processor to pierce the 4GHz clock speed barrier indeed, and those facts will count for its future owners.
