Apple A16 Bionic specs are lackluster, with the number of neural engines and GPU cores remaining the same as the A15

Compared to the iPhone 14 / 14 Plus models that use the A15 Bionic chip, the A16 Bionic used in the iPhone 14 Pro / Pro Max seems to be more eye-catching. However, after carefully examining its specifications, everyone soon realized that the surprises brought by the iteration of Apple's A series mobile SoC in recent years have obviously slowed down.

In fact, from the A14 (iPhone 12 series) in 2020 to the A15 (iPhone 13 series) in 2021, consumers have noticed that the improvement in Apple’s mobile CPU is limited.

For the 2022 iPhone 14/14 Plus, the tech giant directly used last year's A15 Bionic chip, and added some other specifications/experience improvements to attract potential consumers.

In addition, on the iPhone 14 Pro / Pro Max models, after looking through the specifications, everyone found that the number of GPU and neural engine cores of the A16 Bionic remain the same as last year's A15 Bionic.

Although there are reports that TSMC's 3nm advanced process is not progressing smoothly, the switch to the 4nm process of A16 Bionic (the official did not explicitly mention the chip foundry) can still bring some benefits to the iPhone 14 Pro product line.

Having a similar number of CPU/GPU cores may not be a big disadvantage, but it also means that the iPhone 14 Pro product line needs to stand out in other aspects, otherwise everyone will inevitably complain about the A16 Bionic.

As shown in the table above, the A16 Bionic and A15 Bionic chips not only have the same number of CPU/GPU cores, but are also equipped with a 16-core neural engine.

For reference, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, which was switched from Samsung to TSMC, is ahead of the iPhone 13 Pro Max equipped with A15 Bionic in game tests, and has better heat control.

In addition, Apple may be able to maintain a high level of energy efficiency through proper tuning and optimization, thereby improving the battery life of the device. As for the truth, please wait patiently for actual testing after the official sale.