The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are powered by Apple’s new A20 Pro chip, the company’s first processor built on a 2nm process. That’s a major step up from the 3nm chips in previous iPhones, and it lets Apple improve both performance and power efficiency.
Apple also claims a 40% jump in GPU performance in just one year, which would be impressive if it holds up. To find out, we ran the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max through industry-standard benchmarks. Does the A20 Pro beat the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 found in most Android flagships? Here’s how the benchmark results compare.
CPU Performance
In Geekbench 7, the iPhone 18 Pro Max delivers a major performance jump. Compared to last year’s iPhone 17 Pro Max, it scores nearly 30% higher in both single-core and multi-core tests.
It also beats its main rival, the Galaxy S26 Ultra. The iPhone 18 Pro Max leads by about 30% in single-core performance, but only by about 9% in multi-core.
I expect next year’s Galaxy flagship, likely powered by Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon chip, to overtake the iPhone in multi-core speeds. I doubt it will match Apple’s single-core performance, though.
GPU and Gaming Performance
Gaming is where the gains become most noticeable. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad Light stress test, the iPhone 18 Pro Max delivers nearly 70% higher sustained performance than the Galaxy S26 Ultra.
That figure is sustained performance, meaning the score after 20 minutes of intense benchmark testing, not a short peak burst. Apple’s new, larger vapor chamber clearly does its job, keeping the A20 Pro cool enough to hold its speed.
Compared to iPhone 17 Pro Max, this is the performance graph:
And compared to arch-rival Galaxy S26 Ultra, here is the graph:
This level of sustained performance is usually reserved for gaming phones with dedicated cooling systems. Next, I’ll test the iPhone 18 Pro Max against RedMagic, the brand known for building some of the best gaming phones, so stay tuned for that comparison.
Ray Tracing Performance
The ray tracing-focused 3DMark Solar Bay Extreme stress test tells the same story. The iPhone 18 Pro Max delivers roughly double the sustained performance of the Galaxy S26 Ultra, well ahead of the rest of the field.
Final Words
Apple delivered on its promise of big improvements with the A20 Pro. The iPhone 18 Pro Max is a powerhouse, especially for gaming, with the performance and cooling to handle demanding titles.
The only thing missing is a steady supply of AAA games to take advantage of it. With hardware this capable, I think mobile gaming is ready for them.
