Every September, we compare Apple's new A-series chip with Qualcomm's flagship silicon to check whether Qualcomm has finally closed the gap. This year, the A20 Pro is Apple's first iPhone chip built on a 2nm node, whereas the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is fabricated on a 3nm process. While the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is a generation older, let's see where it stacks up in comparison to Apple's latest A20 Pro processor.
A20 Pro vs Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5: AnTuTu Score
| AnTuTu V11 Benchmark | Apple A20 Pro | Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|---|---|---|
| AnTuTu Score | 3,424,974 | 3,740,686 |
| CPU | 905,331 | 1,054,518 |
| GPU | 1,391,732 | 1,368,986 |
| Memory | 428,272 | 428,822 |
| UX | 699,639 | 888,360 |
The A20 Pro scored 3,424,974 points in AnTuTu V11 while the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 posted 3,740,686 points in our Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 benchmark. That said, both scores are not directly comparable. The iOS and Android builds of AnTuTu use different testing services, hence, the scores are not comparable.
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A20 Pro vs Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5: Geekbench Score
| Geekbench 6 CPU | Apple A20 Pro | Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Single-core | 4,707 | 3,588 |
| Multi-core | 12,598 | 10,207 |
Now, in the Geekbench 6 CPU benchmark, Apple's A20 Pro scored 4,707 points in single-core and 12,598 in multi-core on our iPhone 18 Pro Max unit. In comparison, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 achieved 3,588 and 10,207 points on the iQOO 15.
It means the A20 Pro is around 31% faster in single-core and 23% faster in multi-core performance. Apple achieves this level of performance with just six CPU cores, compared to the 8-core Oryon v3 CPU on Qualcomm's chip, which makes the multi-core score even more impressive.
The A20 Pro's 2x Super cores can reach up to 4.93GHz, whereas the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5's 2x Prime cores top out at 4.6GHz.
Meanwhile, Qualcomm claims its latest 2nm flagship scored 4,257 in single-core and 12,710 in multi-core, as we noted in our Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 benchmark article. Compared to that, the A20 Pro is still around 11% ahead in single-core, while the multi-core performance is nearly identical.
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A20 Pro vs Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5: 3DMark Score
| 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test | Apple A20 Pro | Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Best Loop Score | 8,793 | 6,867 |
| Lowest Loop Score | 7,032 | 1,715 |
| Stability | 80% | 25% |
Next, coming to the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test, which runs the GPU for 20 loops to evaluate sustained graphics performance. The A20 Pro's 7-core GPU achieved a best loop score of 8,793, around 28% higher than the Adreno 840 GPU inside the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which got a best loop score of 6,867.
But the important thing to note is the lowest loop score. A20 Pro's GPU finished its 20th loop at 7,032 points with a remarkable 80% stability. The Adreno 840, however, dropped all the way down to 1,715 points with a dismal 25% stability.
To put it simply, by the end of the GPU stress test, the A20 Pro was delivering over 4x the graphics performance of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Apple has made two hardware changes this year to substantially improve its sustained performance. The memory no longer sits over the A20 Pro die and the vapour chamber in the iPhone 18 Pro Max is 3x larger than the previous one.
| 3DMark Test | Apple A20 Pro | Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Solar Bay Score | 15,752 | 12,472 |
| Solar Bay Average FPS | 59.9 | 47.42 |
| Steel Nomad Light Score | 4,018 | 2,789 |
| Steel Nomad Light Average FPS | 29.8 | 20.66 |
Moving on to 3DMark Solar Bay, which is a ray tracing test, the A20 Pro GPU averaged 59.9 FPS for a score of 15,752 points. Qualcomm's Adreno 840 got an average 47.42 FPS and scored 12,472 points, so the A20 Pro delivers around 26% faster ray tracing performance.
The gap increases further in Steel Nomad Light, which is a heavier graphics test. Here, the A20 Pro scored 4,018 points (29.8 FPS) against 2,789 points (20.66 FPS) on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. That's a gap of 44%, which is pretty big.
With these results, Apple is back in the GPU race. That said, the next challenge comes from MediaTek, which claims its new Mali G2-Ultra NX GPU delivers around 27% faster peak graphics than the Dimensity 9500. You can check out the Dimensity 9600 Pro GPU performance details in our coverage.
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A20 Pro vs Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5: Speedometer Score
Finally, the Speedometer benchmark checks how quickly a phone runs web apps and renders web pages inside the browser. The A20 Pro posted a massive 66.1 points, while the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 managed a respectable 28.9 points.
Do note that we ran Speedometer 3.1 on the A20 Pro and Speedometer 3.0 on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, so the scores are not strictly comparable. Still, the A20 Pro's score is more than 2x higher and you can feel the performance difference while web browsing on the iPhone 18 Pro Max.
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A20 Pro vs Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5: Benchmark Gallery
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A20 Pro vs Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5: Specs Comparison
| Specs | Apple A20 Pro | Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Process Node | TSMC's 2nm (N2) | TSMC's 3nm (N3P) |
| CPU | 6-core Apple CPU (2 + 4) | 8-core 3rd-gen Oryon CPU (2+6) |
| CPU Cores | 2x Super cores at 4.93GHz, 4x Efficiency cores at 2.64GHz | 2x 3rd-gen Oryon Prime at 4.60GHz, 6x 3rd-gen Oryon Performance at 3.62GHz |
| GPU | 7-core Apple GPU at 1620MHz, Neural Accelerators, HW-accelerated Ray Tracing | Adreno 840 GPU, Up to 1.2GHz, 18MB Adreno High Performance Memory (HPM) |
| NPU | Dual 16-core Neural Engine (32-core), 44 TOPS FP16, 73 TOPS INT8 | New Hexagon NPU |
| ISP | 4K Dolby Vision video recording up to 120 fps, 1080p slow-motion up to 240 fps | Qualcomm Spectra 20-bit Triple ISP, Images up to 320 MP, Videos at 4K120FPS |
| Storage and Memory | LPDDR5X, 96-bit bus, 9600MT/s, 115.2GB/s bandwidth | UFS 4.1, LPDDR5X memory, Up to 5.3GHz, Up to 10.7 Gbps |
| Modem | Apple C2 5G modem | Snapdragon X85 5G modem, Up to 12.5 Gbps Peak Download, Up to 3.7 Gbps Peak Upload |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, Thread (Apple N1) | Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, LE, and UWB |
Verdict
To conclude, the A20 Pro comfortably beats the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in our testing. Apple's latest silicon leads by around 31% in single-core CPU performance and 23% in multi-core. And the 7-core Apple GPU is up to 44% faster, which is fantastic.
What is even more impressive is sustained performance. The A20 Pro held 80% stability in our GPU stress test, whereas the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 collapsed to 25% and that is a night and day difference. Apple has finally improved its thermals this year, while Qualcomm's chip is unable to hold its peak clock speeds for long.
That said, it doesn't make the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 a slouch. Just pick a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 phone with a big vapour chamber and a solid cooling setup, so it can hold on to its performance for longer.
Now, the real test for Apple is Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chip which can go up to 5.0GHz. Early reference device results put the Extreme chip within striking distance of Apple. You can see how close it gets in our Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 vs A20 Pro comparison.
MediaTek is also in the fight and our Dimensity 9600 Pro vs A20 Pro comparison looks at how its first 2nm chip fares against Apple. Note that until we test retail phones with these new chips, the A20 Pro stays on top.
