When Apple and Samsung historians write about this period, the 2024 flagship phone fights can easily be set in a chapter called the Great Artificial intelligence Battle of 2024. Samsung started it with the announcement of its Galaxy AI suite of functions in the S24 series, and then the WWDC brought Apple Intelligence to the fore.
The iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max fore, that is, as Apple Intelligence doesn't run on anything else for now, but the iPhone 16 series will change that situation by featuring the minimum amount of RAM required across the line, ready to take on the Galaxy S25 models.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 vs Apple A18 processor benchmarks
Apple is preparing to launch the iPhone 16 series with new A18 chipsets that will reportedly allow for a significant boost in on-device AI calculations and machine learning. Ditto for Samsung and the Exynos 2500 or Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 processors that are expected to power the Galaxy S25 series.
A cheaper Apple A18 Bionic done on the TSMC N3E process will eventually land in the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, while the top-shelf A18 Pro on the N3P node may be powering the flagship iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max handsets.
These second and third generation of a production node typically bring stability and power draw improvements, rather than some grand performance boost, so Apple might indeed choose to add features to the A18, instead of clock speed. Still, the leaked Apple A18 benchmark scores show that it is not too shabby.
Geekbench 6 multi-core
Geekbench 6 single core
Snapdragon 8 Gen 4
8840
2884
Apple A18
8571
2822
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (Galaxy S24 Ultra)
6955
2269
Apple A17 Pro (iPhone 15 Pro Max)
6974
2816
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, however, seems to be a beast even in these early benchmark scores that are likely done on a reference engineering device. It is equal in the single-core test, but is 20% ahead in the multicore score when compared to what's in the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and even ahead of the Apple A18.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 vs Apple A17 Pro benchmarks | Image credit – Geekbench
Apple usually wins the single core counts because its A-series processors run at much higher clock frequency during benchmarks, and the scores here are no exception. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chipset will accommodate two performance cores clocked at 4.0GHz and six midrange cores clocked at 2.8 GHz. As for graphics and connectivity subsystems, the upcoming chip will sport a powerful Adreno 830 GPU and the FastConnect 7900 modem, which offers Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 support.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 breaks the 4GHz performance core speed barrier, so it might still outshine the A18 in raw power. When diving a bit deeper in the benchmarks, however, even the A17 series in the iPhone 15 Pro Max exhibits higher performance than the Snapdragon, especially in HDR computational photography and AI calculations like object removal. Thus, Apple may still have the last laugh when the A18 chipset's graphics, co-processing features, and machine learning are concerned.
AI RAM and more RAM
Samsung, however, has more AI aces up its sleeve than sheer processing performance and calculation speed. The reason that iPhone 15 can't run Apple Intelligence is not the processor - its chipsets are pretty fast as they are - but rather the RAM amount. To remedy the situation, Apple will reportedly boost the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus RAM to 8GB for the first time on a budget handset with the fruit logo on the back.
While this seems to be the bare minimum to run Apple Intelligence, Samsung takes the iPhone 16's 8GB RAM and raises it double for the Galaxy S25 series. Moreover, it just announced a dedicated AI-centric RAM chip that is thinner than a credit card and comes in 12GB or 16GB packages.
These particular amounts of memory might have something to do with the rumor that the Galaxy S25 Ultra, in particular, will resurrect Samsung's tradition to put 16GB RAM in its top-shelf phones, lost somewhere on the way it has travelled since the S21 series. Not only that, but Samsung's extremely compact AI RAM memory chip may be one of the avenues for making a thinnerGalaxy S25 Ultra.
Samsung’s LPDDR5X DRAM sets a new standard for high-performance on-device AI solutions, offering not only superior LPDDR performance but also advanced thermal management in an ultra-compact package.
YongCheol Bae, Executive Vice President of Memory Product Planning at Samsung Electronics, August '24
The new AI RAM of Samsung comes in both 12GB and 16GB packaging, too, indicating that it will most likely make its way into the Galaxy S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra as is.
This compact and frugal new RAM chip could very well turn out to be Samsung's secret weapon for a richer and faster to execute suite of AI features, when compared to what Apple will come up with on the iPhone 16 series.
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Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena since 2010, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.
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