Apple A18 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
[ VERDICT ]
Winner: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (97/100)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 leads overall with a score of 97/100 compared to Apple A18 (83/100), offering superior measured performance and technical specifications.
Why choose Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5:
- + Higher Performance score (99 vs 90)
Benchmark Performance Comparison
Normalized Lab Scores| Benchmark | Apple A18 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|---|---|---|
| NanoReview Score | 83.0 Very Good | — |
| Performance | 90.0 Excellent | 99.0 Excellent WINNER |
| DeviceBenchmark Score | — | 97.0 Excellent |
Detailed Technical Specifications
3DMark
| Specification | Apple A18 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Graphics test | 12 FPS | — |
| Section 1 | 31 FPS | — |
| Section 2 | 26 FPS | — |
| Section 3 | 20 FPS | — |
| Stability | 75% | 67% |
| Graphics test | — | 20 FPS |
| Section 1 | — | 52 FPS |
| Section 2 | — | 46 FPS |
| Section 3 | — | 40 FPS |
AI Accelerator
| Specification | Apple A18 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|---|---|---|
| NPU theoretical performance | 35 TOPS | — |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Neural Engine | — |
| Neural processor (NPU) | — | Hexagon |
AnTuTu 11
| Specification | Apple A18 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 611649 | 1112833 |
| GPU | 589953 | 1494722 |
| Memory | 181123 | 442350 |
| Total score | 1972476 | — |
| UX | 589751 | 900177 |
| Total score | — | 3950082 |
CPU
| Specification | Apple A18 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | 2x 4.05 GHz – Everest4x 2.42 GHz – Sawtooth | 2x 4.61 GHz – Oryon Gen 3 Prime6x 3.63 GHz – Oryon Gen 3 Performance |
| Cores | 6 | 8 |
| Frequency | 4050 MHz | 4610 MHz |
| Instruction set | ARMv9.2-A | — |
| L2 cache | 8 MB | — |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| Process | 3 nanometers | 3 nanometers |
| TDP (Sustained Power Limit) | 9 W | — |
| Instruction set | — | ARMv9.2-A |
| L1 cache | — | 192 KB |
| L2 cache | — | 12 MB |
| L3 cache | — | 12 MB |
Connectivity
| Specification | Apple A18 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|---|---|---|
| 4G support | LTE Cat. 24 | — |
| 5G support | Yes | — |
| Bluetooth | 5.3 | 6.0 |
| Download speed | Up to 10000 Mbps | — |
| Modem | Snapdragon X71 5G | Snapdragon X85 |
| Navigation | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC |
| Upload speed | Up to 3500 Mbps | — |
| Wi-Fi | 7 | 7 |
| 4G support | — | LTE Cat. 24 |
| 5G support | — | Yes |
| Download speed | — | Up to 12500 Mbps |
| Upload speed | — | Up to 3700 Mbps |
GeekBench 6
| Specification | Apple A18 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|---|---|---|
| API | Metal | Vulkan |
| Asset compression | 286.8 MB/sec | — |
| Background blur | 36.2 images/sec | — |
| Edge detection | 1.14 Gpixels/sec | — |
| Face detection | 71.8 images/sec | — |
| Feature matching | 0.39 Gpixels/sec | — |
| Gaussian blur | 1.44 Gpixels/sec | — |
| HDR | 279.1 Mpixels/sec | 308.4 Mpixels/sec |
| HTML 5 Browser | 184.2 pages/sec | — |
| Horizon detection | 0.86 Gpixels/sec | — |
| Image detection | 297.2 images/sec | — |
| PDF Renderer | 201.2 Mpixels/sec | — |
| Particle physics | 2811.1 FPS | — |
| Photo processing | 90 images/sec | — |
| Ray tracing | 8.68 Mpixels/sec | — |
| Samples | 6 tests | 79 tests |
| Stereo matching | 77.7 Gpixels/sec | — |
| Asset compression | — | 421.8 MB/sec |
| Background blur | — | 40.7 images/sec |
| Edge detection | — | 1 Gpixels/sec |
| Face detection | — | 24.9 images/sec |
| Feature matching | — | 0.36 Gpixels/sec |
| Gaussian blur | — | 2.04 Gpixels/sec |
| HTML 5 Browser | — | 238 pages/sec |
| Horizon detection | — | 0.72 Gpixels/sec |
| Image detection | — | 330.6 images/sec |
| PDF Renderer | — | 286.6 Mpixels/sec |
| Particle physics | — | 4390.2 FPS |
| Photo processing | — | 98.7 images/sec |
| Ray tracing | — | 14.1 Mpixels/sec |
| Stereo matching | — | 115.4 Gpixels/sec |
Graphics
| Specification | Apple A18 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|---|---|---|
| FLOPS | 1907 Gigaflops | 3686.4 Gigaflops |
| GPU frequency | 1490 MHz | — |
| Pipelines | 5 | 3 |
| Shading units | 128 | — |
| Total shaders | 640 | — |
| DirectX version | — | 12.1 |
| GPU frequency | — | 1200 MHz |
| OpenCL version | — | 3.0 |
| Shading units | — | 512 |
| Total shaders | — | 1536 |
| Vulkan version | — | 1.4 |
Info
| Specification | Apple A18 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Announced | September 2024 | September 2025 |
| Class | Flagship | Flagship |
| Model number | APL1V08 | — |
| Successor | -Apple A19 | — |
| Model number | — | SM8850-AC |
| Official page | — | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 official site |
Memory
| Specification | Apple A18 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Bus | 4x 16 Bit | 4x 16 Bit |
| Max bandwidth | 60 Gb/s | — |
| Max size | 8 GB | — |
| Memory frequency | 3750 MHz | — |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | — |
| Max bandwidth | — | 84.8 Gb/s |
| Max size | — | 24 GB |
| Memory frequency | — | 5300 MHz |
| Memory type | — | LPDDR5X |
Multimedia (ISP)
| Specification | Apple A18 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Audio codecs | - AAC- AAX- AAX+- AC-3- AIFF- CAF- E-AC-3- MP3- MP4- WAV | — |
| Max camera resolution | 1x 48MP | — |
| Storage type | NVMe | — |
| Video capture | 4K at 120FPS | — |
| Video codecs | - H.264- H.265- AV1- VP8- VP9- Motion JPEG | — |
| Video playback | 4K at 120FPS | — |
| Audio codecs | — | - AAC- AIFF- CAF- MP3- MP4- WAV |
| Max camera resolution | — | 1x 320MP |
| Max display resolution | — | 3840 x 2540 |
| Storage type | — | UFS 4.0, UFS 4.1 |
| Video capture | — | 8K at 60FPS, 4K at 120FPS |
| Video codecs | — | - H.264- H.265- AV1- VP8- VP9 |
| Video playback | — | 8K at 60FPS, 4K at 120FPS |
Recent User Tests
| Specification | Apple A18 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Date | Benchmark | Benchmark |
| 📘 2026-05-14(Lakki) | AnTuTu | — |
| 📘 2026-05-20(putheeta) | AnTuTu | — |
| 📘 2026-06-04(Sepehr Naraghipour) | AnTuTu | — |
| 📘 2026-07-03(iTzRageeh) | GeekBench CPU | — |
| 📘 2026-07-15(vovachips) | AnTuTu | — |
| 📘 2026-07-18(Aj) | AnTuTu | — |
| 📘 2026-07-30(Dddd) | AnTuTu | — |
| 📘 2026-08-19->2295031556Leon | — | AnTuTu |
| 📘 2026-08-21(Ilya) | — | AnTuTu |
| 📘 2026-08-24(q_l8) | — | AnTuTu |
| 📘 2026-08-24->Ang3L4D | — | AnTuTu |
| 📘 2026-08-25(Edwin3q) | — | AnTuTu |
| 📘 2026-08-25(Hüseyn Alizade) | — | AnTuTu |
| 📘 2026-08-25(erosado-pr) | — | AnTuTu |
| 📘 2026-08-25(freqr) | — | AnTuTu |
Smartphones
| Specification | Apple A18 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|---|---|---|
| 1.Apple iPhone 16 | 1985600 | — |
| 2.Apple iPhone 16 Plus | 1949745 | — |
| 3.Apple iPhone 16e | 1612788 | — |
| Phones with Apple A18 | AnTuTu v11 | — |
| 1.ZTE Nubia Red Magic 11S Pro Plus | — | 4716234 |
| 10.Honor Magic 8 | — | 4037547 |
| 2.ZTE Nubia Red Magic 11S Pro | — | 4678468 |
| 3.Vivo iQOO 15 Ultra | — | 4602290 |
| 4.Vivo X300 Ultra | — | 4247433 |
| 5.ZTE Nubia Red Magic 11 Pro Plus | — | 4244509 |
| 6.Oppo Find X9 Ultra | — | 4231988 |
| 7.Honor Robot Phone | — | 4166339 |
| 8.Honor Magic V6 | — | 4166339 |
| 9.ZTE Nubia Red Magic 11 Pro | — | 4117238 |
| Phones with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 | — | AnTuTu v11 |
PCMark 3.0
| Specification | Apple A18 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Data manipulation score | — | 15949 |
| Phones tested | — | 13 models |
| Photo editing score | — | 40273 |
| Video editing score | — | 8052 |
| Web score | — | 16855 |
| Writing score | — | 26073 |
Looking for More Comparisons?
Browse all available head-to-head comparisons or select new devices in the comparison hub.