The iPhone 15 Pro may not be as powerful as we hoped
Most signs so far pointed to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max getting a significant power upgrade over their predecessors, with more RAM and a much faster chipset. But a new leak suggests the improvements may not be as substantial as we thought.
This is from a leak @URedditor (through 9to5Mac), which claims that the A17 Bionic chipset we expect to power these phones will have six CPU cores and six GPU cores. That’s the same number of CPU cores as the A16 Bionic in the iPhone 14 Pro line, but one extra GPU core.
In addition, the A17 Bionic is said to have a maximum clock speed of 3.70 GHz, which is higher than the 3.46 GHz in the A16 Bionic.
Apple A17 – t8130 – Coll6 CPU Cores + 6 GPU Cores3.70 GHz6GB LPDDR5 DRAM – Micron/SamsungTSMC 3nm ProcessLPDDR = Low Power Double Data Rate SDRAMThe A17 is used by both the D83 and D84, likely also planned for D47 and D48 (16 series ), as the D9x will use t8140 (A18).August 9, 2023
Those aren’t minor upgrades, especially when coupled with the 3nm manufacturing process we expect this chipset to be built (and also mentioned here). That change in the process could lead to more power and efficiency on its own, but even with that combination of changes, it doesn’t sound like a huge improvement.
Indeed, in reply to someone, @URedditor says that “they just want these things to be a little better, just enough to warrant the upgrade in some people’s eyes.” So it sounds like they don’t like the changes here.
The worst is yet to come
The bad news doesn’t stop with the chipset either, as while some leaks had suggested the iPhone 15 Pro line would get 8GB of RAM, this latest leak states 6GB, just like the current models. @URedditor addresses this directly, saying, “I’ve only seen 6 GB so far; 8GB seems unlikely (but maybe not impossible).”
So if this leak is correct, we may see a fairly minor chipset upgrade and no change in the amount of RAM.
Yet there is reason for hope. After all, other leaks have suggested that there will be more RAM as well as that the A17 Bionic will be extremely powerful. So it’s possible that this latest leak is wrong, or that those changes to the chipset will make a significant difference.
Even if we don’t see massive upgrades, our iPhone 14 Pro review and our iPhone 14 Pro Max review found no issues with the power of those phones. In fact, they’re still some of the best phones in the world, so the new models probably don’t need a major performance boost.
We should have a clearer idea of how powerful the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max will be on September 12, as that’s the most likely iPhone 15 release date, judging by leaks and rumours.