Apple A16 Bionic vs Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
The Apple A16 Bionic and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 are both flagship chips, made by Apple and Qualcomm. In Geekbench 6, the two chips are nearly level in multi-core (6,673 vs 6,750), but the Apple A16 Bionic is 17% faster in single-core.
Benchmarks head to head
Full chipset rankingMulti-core Geekbench 6
Nearly levelSingle-core Geekbench 6
Apple A16 Bionic +17%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 | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Apple | Qualcomm |
| Class | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | — | Oct 2023 |
| Process | — | 4 nm TSMC |
| CPU | — | 8 cores 1× 3.3 GHz + 3× 3.2 GHz + 2× 3.0 GHz + 2× 2.3 GHz |
| Max CPU speed | — | 3.3 GHz |
| GPU | — | Adreno 750 |
| 5G modem | — | Built-in 5G |
| Place in our ranking | #27 of 109 | #26 of 109 (better) |
| Geekbench 6 single-core | 2,566 (better) | 2,200 |
| Geekbench 6 multi-core | 6,673 | 6,750 |
| Graphics (3DMark Steel Nomad Light) | — | 1,642 |
| Phones in our database | 4 phones | 22 phones |
| Best-rated phone | Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max 7.3 | Xiaomi 14 Ultra 8.5 |
| Lowest US launch price | $799 Apple iPhone 15 | $549 REDMAGIC 10 Air |
| Newest phone | Apple iPhone 15 Plus Sep 2023 | vivo X Fold5 Jun 2025 |
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 Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
22 phones in our database, best rated first.
-
8.5
Xiaomi 14 Ultra
6.73″ 120 Hz, 50 MP camera, 5,000 mAh
No US price + Compare -
8.4
HONOR 400 Pro
6.7″ 120 Hz, 200 MP camera, 5,300 mAh
No US price + Compare -
8.4 Discontinued
OnePlus 12
6.82″ 120 Hz, 50 MP camera, 5,400 mAh
From $799.99 + Compare -
8.3
vivo X Fold5
8.03″ 120 Hz, 50 MP camera, 6,000 mAh
No US price + Compare
Apple A16 Bionic vs Snapdragon 8 Gen 3: FAQ
Which is faster, the Apple A16 Bionic or the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3?
In Geekbench 6, the two chips are nearly level in multi-core (6,673 vs 6,750), but the Apple A16 Bionic is 17% 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 Snapdragon 8 Gen 3?
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 Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 powers 22 phones in our database, including the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, HONOR 400 Pro and OnePlus 12. The lowest US launch price with this chip is $549, for the REDMAGIC 10 Air.
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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