![]() When the architecture changes, the speedup tends to be variable–some things get a lot faster, and other things not so much. We can also expect improved performance in current 3D games and applications that use the GPU for computation. Features like ray tracing acceleration may not be critical for iPhone, but this GPU design will find its way into future M-series Mac processors, where the lack of advanced GPU features like ray tracing acceleration put them far behind state of the art. I think it’s likely that Apple has an updated GPU architecture ready to go for A17. I don’t know if that’s true, but Apple hasn’t updated its Metal feature set tables for developers to include the A16, which is telling. It’s getting faster, and there have been some minor new features like variable rasterization rates and SIMD improvements for GPU compute, but Apple is years behind desktop GPUs in important features like ray tracing acceleration.Ī sketchy rumor said that the A16 was intended to have a major GPU architecture but it wasn’t ready in time, so it got the same GPU as the A15 (but more memory bandwidth improves performance). What hasn’t changed a whole lot is the overall feature set of the GPU. Apple has been increasing GPU performance by an average of around 20 percent or so with each new A-series chip, though it can be anywhere from 15 percent to 30 percent. The GPU is one area where the A17 could potentially be very interesting. ![]() Where we may see some improvement is in standby mode, which may get noticeably better with the move to the 3nm process. At least, not for active use under full power–not only will the chip likely consume nearly as much power in that scenario, but the display and radios also contribute so much to the power drain. Maximum power draw will be limited by battery size, thermal dissipation, and other factors, and I don’t think we can expect a massive shift in battery life from the move to 3nm alone. The 3nm process offers more power efficiency, with a comparable chip at a comparable speed, but Apple isn’t going to make a comparable chip at a comparable speed. I wrote at length about the advantage Apple will enjoy with a 3nm process, and the big one is more density–while the A16 was about 16 billion transistors, we can expect well over 20 billion for the A17, perhaps as high as about 24 billion. And that’s what we’re almost certainly going to get with the A17-the first large-scale consumer chip made with TSMC’s 3nm process. Granted, that process has evolved over time, producing chips that are denser and have improved power efficiency, but there’s nothing quite like the leap to the next major process node. The iPhone 15 Pro is currently expected to launch around September 12 at the September Apple Event, alongside the rest of the iPhone 15 family, the Apple Watch 9 and possibly the iPad mini 7.The A14, A15, and A16 were all made using a 5nm manufacturing process from TSMC. That greater efficiency also applies to power consumption, which should offer a boost to the iPhone 15 Pro’s battery life - though it’s unclear as to how much of an improvement we should expect. That’s significantly higher than the 10%-25% we usually see from new generations of A-series chips. That process node should enable greater efficiency in the chip, with manufacturer TSMC claiming that the 3nm process could boost efficiency by around 35%. The chip is expected to be the first ( and currently only) mobile chip to be built using a 3nm process, which is significantly smaller than the 4nm A16 Bionic and 5nm chips used in the best Android phones. ![]() Apple hasn’t publicly revealed any details about the A17 Bionic chipset, but rumors do give us some idea of where this extra performance came from.
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