In the midst of a computer upgrade cycle, I recently replaced my aging (circa 2013) iPhone 6 Plus with a new iPhone Xs Max. The performance improvement is quite dramatic so I looked at the Geekbench 4 benchmarks to see how Apple’s RISC CPU architecture has improved, contrasted to Intel’s CPU performance since 2013. I also included my iPad Air and MacBook Pro, which also date back to the same 2013/2014 time frame. Performance benchmarks follow:
GeekBench 4 | CPU | Single Core | Multi-Core | ||||||||
Model | 2013/14 | 2018 | 2013/14 | 2018 | % Increase | 2013/14 | 2018 | % Change | |||
iPhone | 6 Plus | A8 (Apple) | A12 | 1418 | 4796 | 238% | 2412 | 11242 | 366% | ||
iPad | Air (4,2) | A7 (Apple) | A12X | 1326 | 5030 | 279% | 2258 | 18000 | 697% | ||
MacBook Pro | 15″ | I7 (Intel) | I9 | 3901 | 5346 | 37% | 14013 | 22575 | 61% |
While not a definitive benchmark comparison and there are many other considerations, quite an increase in performance for Apple CPUs vs. Intel’s. At the recent Apple product announcement in Brooklyn, Tim Cook mentioned the new iPad performance is greater than 92% of all PC’s sold today.
A few takeaways from this analysis:
- Apple will be introducing its CPU’s into its own laptops/desktops, beginning within the next couple of years
- Apple’s OS software will be changing to support this CPU move; how soon is anyone’s guess but I would hope within the next 18 months. Good software takes a lot longer to produce than good hardware.
- Apple will be reconciling its “computer” strategy; too many, overlapping products making it confusing to the consumer as well as costly to support/maintain.
Let me know what you think.
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