Here’s How Fast the IPhone 15 Pro Really Is

The iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max aren’t even out yet: if you pre-order one today , you might not even see it until October . However, luckily for us, we don’t have to wait until we get our hands on new pros to find out how fast they really are.

MySmartPrice has noticed that Apple’s latest iPhone Pro models have appeared on Geekbench, a tool for testing a device’s performance against others. This especially gives us a good insight into Apple products like the iPhone, as Apple tends to keep hardware quirks to a minimum.

How fast is the iPhone 15 Pro?

Thanks to these Geekbench entries, we now know that the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max are equipped with 8GB of RAM and that the 6-core processor on the A17 Bionic chip has a base frequency of 3.78 GHz. In testing, the iPhone 15 Pro scored 2,908 points in single-core testing and 7,238 points in multi-core testing, while the iPhone 15 Pro Max scored 2,846 and 7,024 points in single-core and multi-core testing, respectively. We don’t know the variables for the test, but it’s interesting to see that the 15 Pro’s score is slightly higher than the 15 Pro Max’s with the same specs.

But the real comparison is with the iPhones that came out before the new 15 Pro. First, we’ll look at the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max with the latest generation A16 Bionic chip (the same chip found in the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus ). The 14 Pro scored 2521 and 6390 in single-core and multi-core, while the 14 Pro Max scored 2520 and 6370 in both.

Apple now claims that the A17 chip’s processor is about 10% faster than the A16, and its GPU is about 20% faster. While we don’t know for sure about the increase in GPUs, the 10% increase in CPU seems to be in line with this, ranging between 10 and 13%.

While any speed increase with an upgraded chip is nice to see, it may not be significant enough to be noticeable at this stage. The A16 Bionic chip is still powerful and handles iOS very well. You probably won’t be able to tell based on overall usage whether you’re using an iPhone 15 Pro or an iPhone 14 Pro, at least until iOS improves. Based on these numbers, don’t feel the need to upgrade from the 14 Pro just for pure performance.

How the iPhone 15 Pro differs from older iPhones

Of course, the older your iPhone, the different the story. The iPhone 14 does not have the A16 chip like the 14 Pro, but uses the A15 Bionic chip from the iPhone 13. According to Geekbench, the iPhone 14 scored 2224 single-core and 5384 multi-core, which is about 30% and 34% difference from the results 15 Pro in single-core and multi-core mode. Go back one generation further to the A14 Bionic in the iPhone 12 Pro , and you’ll see scores of 1,982 and 4,368—a difference of roughly 47% and 66%. You’ll definitely feel this jump (in addition to the display’s refresh rate jumping from 60Hz to 120Hz).

The A17 Bionic is not some kind of profound breakthrough in smartphone performance. This is a steady increase over the previous generation SoC, which was a modest increase over the previous generation. It’s a common story: the older your iPhone, the more impressive the new one will be. But that doesn’t mean you need to rush and upgrade. Apple has been supporting iPhones for years with software and security updates: If your iPhone is working fine, wait a little longer.