Apple’s newest A17 Pro system-on-chip (SoC) for smartphones, manufactured on TSMC’s N3 production node, has demonstrated single-thread performance that rivals AMD’s Ryzen 9 7950X and Intel’s Core i9-13900K processors in the Geekbench 6 benchmark. However, there is a catch. The A17 Pro operates at a lower frequency of 3.75 GHz, compared to its competitors’ 5.80 GHz and 6.0 GHz clock speeds.
The A17 Pro features a six-core configuration, with two high-performance cores capable of reaching up to 3.77 GHz and four energy-efficient cores operating at a lower frequency. In comparison to the A16 Bionic, the A17 Pro boasts an 8.95% increase in clock speed for its performance cores. This improvement aligns with the advancements offered by TSMC’s N3 process technology over its 5nm-class and 4nm-class counterparts.
When considering single-core performance in Geekbench 6, the A17 Pro outperforms its predecessor, the A16 Bionic, by 10%. This raises questions about whether Apple made any microarchitectural CPU improvements with the latest SoC. As expected, Apple’s custom cores consistently exceed Arm’s own designs in terms of speed.
With a single-thread Geekbench 6 score of 2,900 points, the A17 Pro stands up against many desktop-class processors, falling only about 10% behind the fastest models. This suggests that Apple’s high-performance cores could rival processors like Raptor Cove and Zen 4, at least in this specific benchmark. However, it is important to remember that a single benchmark cannot provide a complete picture of overall performance.
In terms of multi-core performance, the A17 Pro achieves a score of around 7,200 points, which is only 3% higher than the A16 Bionic. With six cores, it cannot surpass processors with significantly more cores. Nevertheless, the A17 Pro remains the fastest smartphone SoC, particularly when compared to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
In conclusion, Apple’s A17 Pro SoC delivers impressive single-thread performance that competes with some PC processors, despite operating at a lower frequency. While there may be no significant architectural changes to the CPU cores, the increased clock speeds contribute to its enhanced capabilities.
Sources:
– Source Article: [Insert Source Article Title Here]
– Geekbench 6: [Insert Geekbench 6 Website URL Here]