Apple has once again resorted to chip-binning for the iPhone 16e, with the A18 chipset inside featuring a slight downgrade compared to its counterparts in the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. Specifically, the iPhone 16e’s A18 has one less GPU core, resulting in a noticeable performance drop. Surprisingly, the 4-core GPU in the A18 is almost 10% slower than the two-generations-old A16 Bionic when tested on 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited.
For context, the A16 Bionic was first introduced in the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, nearly three years ago. Seeing it outperform a brand-new iPhone 16e variant raises questions about Apple’s strategy and the performance of its latest release.
A Disappointing Showing for the iPhone 16e
This marks the second benchmark where the binned A18 GPU has underperformed. Earlier tests, including Geekbench 6 Metal, revealed that the A18 with a 4-core GPU was 15% slower than the regular A18 chipset found in the iPhone 16. YouTuber Dave2D recently tested the 4-core version using 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited, and the results were far from impressive: the A18 scored 2,882 points, while the A16 Bionic managed 3,170 points.
For comparison, the non-binned version of the A18 in the iPhone 16 scored an impressive 4,007 points—28.04% faster than the version in the iPhone 16e. This stark difference highlights the significant impact of chip-binning, with Apple likely using this tactic to reduce the iPhone 16e’s price.
The Impact on Consumers
While some may be disappointed by the performance discrepancy, the lower cost of the iPhone 16e could be a trade-off for budget-conscious buyers. However, potential customers may feel frustrated upon seeing the performance gap between models. As more content creators put the iPhone 16e through its paces, we’ll continue to monitor the results. Stay tuned for further updates on the A18’s performance and its impact on the iPhone 16e’s value proposition.
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