5 ms·

Actually, the new A12 chips are considerably faster than the A11s. Apple's chips in general are much faster than their Android equivalents: https://browser.geek

Actually, the new A12 chips are considerably faster than the A11s. Apple's chips in general are much faster than their Android equivalents: https://browser.geekbench.com/ios-benchmarks https://browser.geekbench.com/ios-benchmarks https://browser.geekbench.com/android-benchmarks https://browser.geekbench.com/android-benchmarks

tyingq 8y ago
The single core boost looks like ~11% or so. I don't own an iPhone, but that's not particularly compelling to me, if my current phone works fine. The iPhone 6 to iPhone 7 single core boost looks like ~40% for comparison.
nafey 8y ago
That might be true but most phones are not running application that leverage that performance. The apps are more often than not optimised for lower performance and if you spend most of your time in Safari/Messenger/Instagram/Whatsapp A12 wont give you a lot of performance bump as compared to A11
- scarface74 8y ago
  It helps with longevity. It’s what allows an iPhone 5s from 2013 to run the latest OS.
- dwaite 8y ago
  For mobile devices, it isn't just about having apps leverage performance - it is also getting work over and done with so components can go back to sleep and save battery. For tasks that will legitimately use every ounce of performance thrown at them or which have to run continuously or on a high interval, Apple tends to add custom silicon. See video encoding/decoding, crypto, use of machine learning models, non-homogenous core performance.
PuffinBlue 8y ago
I'm genuinely curious - what apps use/need all this power? And this is a genuine question, my usage is probably 'typical' and not pushing the device so I don't know what people do with their phones that takes advantage of this processing power.
- zip1234 8y ago
  Web browsing certainly benefits in almost every phone. There are loads of pages that will crush old phones now. You won't see HN perform better, but sites that are loaded with cruft and ads will render smoother. Another benefit of faster/more efficient processors is battery life.
  - photojosh 8y ago
    Notably, the A12 added a specific CPU numeric instruction that is aimed directly at Javascript. But apparently it's not even being used yet, and the phones still beat desktop machines at JS benchmarks. [0] https://daringfireball.net/linked/2018/10/11/arm-v83-javascript https://daringfireball.net/linked/2018/10/11/arm-v83-javascr...
- photojosh 8y ago
  There's a ton of computation going on in the Photos app these days, both computational photography to create the image itself, along with things like face and object recognition. The newest phones do HDR video, which is quite intensive. Then there's AR.
enqk 8y ago
How realistic/gameable are those geekbench benchmarks?

tyingq 8y ago

The single core boost looks like ~11% or so. I don't own an iPhone, but that's not particularly compelling to me, if my current phone works fine. The iPhone 6 to iPhone 7 single core boost looks like ~40% for comparison.

nafey 8y ago

That might be true but most phones are not running application that leverage that performance. The apps are more often than not optimised for lower performance and if you spend most of your time in Safari/Messenger/Instagram/Whatsapp A12 wont give you a lot of performance bump as compared to A11

scarface74 8y ago
It helps with longevity. It’s what allows an iPhone 5s from 2013 to run the latest OS.
dwaite 8y ago
For mobile devices, it isn't just about having apps leverage performance - it is also getting work over and done with so components can go back to sleep and save battery. For tasks that will legitimately use every ounce of performance thrown at them or which have to run continuously or on a high interval, Apple tends to add custom silicon. See video encoding/decoding, crypto, use of machine learning models, non-homogenous core performance.

PuffinBlue 8y ago

I'm genuinely curious - what apps use/need all this power? And this is a genuine question, my usage is probably 'typical' and not pushing the device so I don't know what people do with their phones that takes advantage of this processing power.

zip1234 8y ago
Web browsing certainly benefits in almost every phone. There are loads of pages that will crush old phones now. You won't see HN perform better, but sites that are loaded with cruft and ads will render smoother. Another benefit of faster/more efficient processors is battery life.
- photojosh 8y ago
  Notably, the A12 added a specific CPU numeric instruction that is aimed directly at Javascript. But apparently it's not even being used yet, and the phones still beat desktop machines at JS benchmarks. [0] https://daringfireball.net/linked/2018/10/11/arm-v83-javascript https://daringfireball.net/linked/2018/10/11/arm-v83-javascr...
photojosh 8y ago
There's a ton of computation going on in the Photos app these days, both computational photography to create the image itself, along with things like face and object recognition. The newest phones do HDR video, which is quite intensive. Then there's AR.

enqk 8y ago

How realistic/gameable are those geekbench benchmarks?