Apple A16 Bionic vs Dimensity 8500
The Apple A16 Bionic is a flagship chip, and the Dimensity 8500 is an upper mid-range chip from MediaTek. In Geekbench 6, the two chips are nearly level in multi-core (6,673 vs 6,520), but the Apple A16 Bionic is 58% faster in single-core.
Benchmarks head to head
Full chipset rankingMulti-core Geekbench 6
Nearly levelSingle-core Geekbench 6
Apple A16 Bionic +58%Graphics 3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Higher is better. Bars are relative to the faster chip in each test. A dash means we don’t have a reliable result for that chip yet.
Key facts
Specs from the chip makers. The better result in each benchmark is highlighted.
| Apple A16 Bionic | Dimensity 8500 | |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Apple | MediaTek |
| Class | Flagship | Upper mid-range |
| Announced | — | Jan 2026 |
| Process | — | 4 nm TSMC |
| CPU | — | 8 cores 1× 3.4 GHz + 3× 3.2 GHz + 4× 2.2 GHz |
| Max CPU speed | — | 3.4 GHz |
| GPU | — | Mali-G720 MC8 |
| 5G modem | — | Built-in 5G |
| Place in our ranking | #27 of 113 (better) | #29 of 113 |
| Geekbench 6 single-core | 2,566 (better) | 1,620 |
| Geekbench 6 multi-core | 6,673 | 6,520 |
| Graphics (3DMark Steel Nomad Light) | — | 1,443 |
| Phones in our database | 4 phones | 3 phones |
| Best-rated phone | Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max 7.3 | Motorola Edge 70 Pro 8.2 |
| Lowest US launch price | $799 Apple iPhone 15 | — |
| Newest phone | Apple iPhone 15 Plus Sep 2023 | Xiaomi 17T May 2026 |
Phones with the Apple A16 Bionic
4 phones in our database, best rated first.
-
7.3 Discontinued
Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
6.7″ 120 Hz, 48 MP camera, 4,323 mAh
From $1,099 + Compare -
6.9 Discontinued
Apple iPhone 14 Pro
6.1″ 120 Hz, 48 MP camera, 3,200 mAh
From $999 + Compare -
6.5 Discontinued
Apple iPhone 15 Plus
6.7″ 60 Hz, 48 MP camera, 4,383 mAh
From $899 + Compare -
6.2 Discontinued
Apple iPhone 15
6.1″ 60 Hz, 48 MP camera, 3,349 mAh
From $799 + Compare
Phones with the Dimensity 8500
3 phones in our database, best rated first.
-
8.2
Motorola Edge 70 Pro
6.78″ 144 Hz, 50 MP camera, 6,500 mAh
No US price + Compare -
7.9
Xiaomi 17T
6.59″ 120 Hz, 50 MP camera, 6,500 mAh
No US price + Compare -
7.6
POCO X8 Pro
6.59″ 120 Hz, 50 MP camera, 6,500 mAh
No US price + Compare
Apple A16 Bionic vs Dimensity 8500: FAQ
Which is faster, the Apple A16 Bionic or the Dimensity 8500?
In Geekbench 6, the two chips are nearly level in multi-core (6,673 vs 6,520), but the Apple A16 Bionic is 58% faster in single-core. Real-world speed also depends on how well each phone keeps the chip cool and on its software.
Which phones use the Apple A16 Bionic and the Dimensity 8500?
The Apple A16 Bionic powers 4 phones in our database, including the Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max, Apple iPhone 14 Pro and Apple iPhone 15 Plus. The lowest US launch price with this chip is $799, for the Apple iPhone 15. The Dimensity 8500 powers 3 phones in our database, including the Motorola Edge 70 Pro, Xiaomi 17T and POCO X8 Pro.
Where do these benchmark scores come from?
They are reference results for each chip: the median of several Geekbench 6 runs on retail phones. The 3DMark Steel Nomad Light graphics score is the median of the results for retail phones with the chip in the official ranking of UL, the maker of 3DMark. The same chip can score a little differently from phone to phone, depending on cooling, clock speeds and software.
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