Apple is shifting its focus towards creating more energy-efficient chips for the upcoming iPhone 17 series, rather than competing with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 in terms of raw processing power. According to a post by Chinese tech tipster Fixed Focus Digital on Weibo, Apple’s new A19 and A19 Pro chips will prioritize power saving to extend the battery life of the four iPhone 17 models set to launch in late 2025.
One of the devices that will showcase Apple’s energy-saving capabilities is the iPhone 17 Air, which may feature a slim 5.5mm body and a relatively small 2,800mAh battery. The A19 Pro chip, produced using TSMC’s 3-nanometer N3P process, has reportedly scored over 4,000 points in single-core tests and over 10,000 points in multi-core tests using the Geekbench program.
While these results represent a significant upgrade from the A18 Pro chip found in the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max, they still trail behind the performance of rival chips like the Dimensity 9500 and Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, which have scored over 11,000 points in multi-core tests. However, the A19 Pro chip has a higher IPC (Instructions Per Cycle) score, indicating that it can handle more tasks in the same amount of time, even if its peak processing speed is lower.
Meanwhile, Samsung is preparing to launch its own Exynos 2600 chip, which is expected to be the first in the industry to use a 2-nanometer process. This chip will be featured in the upcoming Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26+ smartphones, and it will be interesting to see how it compares to current 3-nanometer chips in terms of performance.
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