Apple’s A17 Pro chip, released in September 2023, is the powerhouse behind the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models. It boasts several firsts: being the first widely available chip built on a super-miniaturized 3-nanometer (nm) process and packing 19 billion transistors. This translates to a 10% CPU performance jump over its predecessor, the A16 Bionic.
The A17 Pro features a 6-core CPU with two high-performance cores clocked at a speedy 3.78 GHz for demanding tasks, and four energy-efficient cores for everyday use. Apple claims these efficient cores are not only faster but also three times more power-efficient than the competition.
Beyond raw power, the A17 Pro boasts a significant upgrade in graphics with its new 6-core GPU. This translates to smoother gameplay, especially with the addition of hardware-accelerated ray tracing, a technique that simulates realistic lighting for stunning visuals.
The 16-core Neural Engine gets a double-performance boost, enabling up to 35 trillion operations per second. This translates to smarter features on your iPhone, like improved autocorrect, potentially creating personalized voices for users with speech limitations, and more accurate object recognition in photos.