Credit: Robert Triggs / Android Authority
Apple and Qualcomm make some of the best smartphone chips and their latest releases are no exception. Both companies have now launched their flagship SoCs that will power high-end smartphone experiences throughout most of 2024. But you may be wondering, which company has taken the performance crown this generation and by how much? Let’s find out in this Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs Apple A17 Pro comparison.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs Apple A17 Pro: Specs and benchmarks
| A17 Pro | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU Config | 2x 3.78GHz (High-performance) 4x 2.11GHz (Energy-efficient) |
1x 3.3GHz (Cortex-X4) 3x 3.2GHz (Cortex-A720) 2x 3GHz (Cortex-A720) 2x 2.3GHz (Cortex-A520 Refresh) |
| GPU | 6-core (Apple-designed) Hardware ray-tracing |
Adreno (Qualcomm-designed) Hardware ray-tracing |
| AI | 16-core Apple Neural Engine | Hexagon DSP |
| RAM support | LPDDR5 | LPDDR5X |
| Video | HEVC, AV1 decode 4K60 capture |
HEVC, AV1 decode 4K120, 8K30 capture |
| 4G/5G Modem | X70 LTE/5G 10,000Mbps down 3,500Mbps up |
X70 LTE/5G 10,000Mbps down 3,500Mbps up |
| Other networking | Bluetooth 5.3 Wi-Fi 6E |
Bluetooth 5.4 Wi-Fi 7 Ready |
| Process | TSMC 3nm (N3B) | TSMC 4nm (N4P) |
Even though the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and A17 Pro are both Arm-based smartphone SoCs, they’re fundamentally very different under the hood.