00:00We just wrapped lab testing on the new iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone 18 Pro Max.
00:04While the battery endurance showed solid year-over-year gains from the iPhone 17 Pro series,
00:09the real takeaway from our data is the raw performance of Apple's A20 Pro chip.
00:14As the world's first 2nm smartphone processor, the A20 Pro brings substantial gains in graphics
00:19and sustained thermal performance, widening the gap between the iPhone and Android flagships like
00:25the S26 Ultra. Today, we're breaking down those benchmark figures, comparing them against the
00:29competition and looking at how this performance sets the stage for the iPhone Duo dropping
00:34next month. Let's get into it.
00:40For anyone new to the channel, at Tom's Guide, we put every flagship smartphone through the
00:44exact same controlled lab test so everything is completely apples to apples. Our battery
00:49test sets the phone display precisely to 150 nits of brightness over a 5G connection,
00:55continuously surfing a series of web pages until the battery dies. Then, we run standard
01:00stress tests like Geekbench and 3DMark to measure peak CPU graphics and thermal efficiency.
01:05Now, usually chip specs get buried in numbers. They can feel a little in the weeds for an average
01:11phone user, but the A20 Pro inside the iPhone 18 Pro series represents a massive architectural
01:16jump worth digging into. Not only did Apple fit more transistors on the chip, it also completely
01:22redesigned the inside of the iPhone 18 Pro. Instead of stacking the memory right on top of the brain,
01:28they laid it side-by-side and expanded the internal vapor chamber cooling system by three times.
01:32Imagine upgrading your car's engine while simultaneously installing a race car radiator
01:37to keep it cold. That's essentially what's happening under the hood of this iPhone.
01:43So how does that translate to actual lab numbers? The results are staggering,
01:47especially when you pit the iPhone 18 Pro against its biggest Android competitor,
01:51the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.
01:56On Geekbench 6, which tests overall system speed, the iPhone 18 Pro scored over 4,700
02:02in single-core performance. That is roughly 25% faster than last year's iPhone 17 Pro,
02:08and it comfortably beats the Galaxy S26 Ultra by 25% in single-core and 10% in multi-core
02:14processing.
02:16Where things get really wild is in graphics performance. The A20 Pro features a new 7-core
02:22GPU, up from 6 cores last year. The iPhone 18 Pro Max turned in 67.9 frames per second on
02:293DMark's
02:29SolarBay test. That's a 45% leap over the iPhone 17 Pro Max and 37% faster than Samsung's top
02:37flagship.
02:38When playing high-end titles like Ungodly, frame rates stayed a lot smoothly even during chaotic
02:43combat scenes with tons of visual effects on screen.
02:47Now, iPhones in the past have struggled with thermal throttling, or where the phone gets super hot
02:52during long gaming sessions and forcibly slows down to cool itself off. That new vapor chamber in the
02:58iPhone 18 Pro makes a noticeable improvement here. In a 20-loop stress test, the iPhone 18 Pro Max
03:04maintained an impressive 79.4% stability score. That is a 25% improvement over the 17 Pro Max and
03:11over 47%
03:13more stable than the Galaxy S26 Ultra under sustained heavy loads.
03:19At this point, you're probably wondering, what does all this performance mean for battery life?
03:23In all honesty, not that much. The iPhone 18 Pro Max averaged 18 hours and 27 minutes on our
03:29proprietary web browsing test, still making it the longest lasting iPhone we've ever tested,
03:35even if it's not much more than a 30-minute gain year over year. That said, the standard iPhone 18
03:41Pro
03:42logged 1617, nearly a full hour longer than the 17 Pro. The Pro Max easily outlasted the Galaxy S26
03:50Ultra's 16 hours and 40 minutes. While it doesn't reach the OnePlus 15's massive 25-hour result with its
03:57silicon carbon battery, it's a stellar showing for Apple. Charging speed also got a boost. Both iPhone
04:0518 Pro models now support 60-watt wired charging. In our lab, the smaller iPhone 18 Pro reached 53%
04:12in just 15 minutes and 80% in half an hour. The Pro Max hit 44% in 15 minutes
04:18and 77% in 30 minutes.
04:22But here's the thing, I know a lot of you probably don't care nearly as much about another traditional
04:27iPhone update when Apple's first foldable is right around the corner. An iPhone Duo is powered by this
04:32same chip, but foldable devices inherently present huge engineering challenges. Running a huge 7.6-inch
04:39display drains battery quickly. Side-by-side app multitasking strains both CPU and RAM bandwidth.
04:46Ultra-thin form factors make heat management much harder. That said, seeing the A20 Pro deliver a 45%
04:52graphics jump, 50% more memory bandwidth, and near 80% thermal stability in our lab gives me huge confidence
04:59for the Duo. This chip should have the raw horsepower and thermal headroom to drive dual-screen
05:05workflows, heavy AI processing via the 16-core neural engine, and intense multitasking without turning
05:10the device into an oven or taking battery life in a couple of hours. But there's only one way to
05:16find
05:16out for sure. Hit that subscribe button so you can see our iPhone Duo review benchmark testing when it
05:21launches. Bringing it back to the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max real quick, they may look similar on the
05:27outside, but underneath the A20 Pro chip sets a new standard for smartphone performance and efficiency.
05:33But what do you think of these benchmark numbers? Are you picking up an iPhone 18 Pro or holding out
05:38for
05:38the iPhone Duo next month? Let us know in the comments. For Tom's Guide, this is Mark Spoonhour.
05:59who jedeshost'd be nearly 60 funds.
06:00in Spanish吃,nekos,эk.
06:01National Hino gjort ha 1 long to have 12 hours, 6 hours and 24 hours out.
06:02but we.. that stuff can get really open.
06:02eso..
06:03it's the first time to choose your memory band.
06:04Well, let's just start looking for the shooting band!
