iPhone XR update boasts faster 6-core processor and 4GB RAM, alleged benchmark suggests

AppleInsider

Benchmark scores logged with Primate Labs' online Geekbench 4 tool detail a heretofore unknown iPhone model equipped with an unidentified six-core ARM processor boasting 4GB of RAM, specifications that match rumors of an anticipated 2019 iPhone XR follow-up.

Scores for a so-called "iPhone12,1" running what appears to be the recently released iOS 13.1 beta surfaced on the Geekbench Browser on Monday. While not officially in use by Apple, rumors have attached the hardware identifier to a next-generation iPhone XR model expected for unveiling at a special Apple event on Sept. 10.

Lending further credence to the benchmark's authenticity is a motherboard identified as "N104AP," the same numbering scheme Apple reportedly uses internally in reference to its pending iPhone XR update. It should be noted, however, that data fields can be falsified in benchmark reports. As such, the veracity of the Geekbench score set is at this point tenuous at best.

Results cover a generic 2.66 GHz "ARM" hexa-core system-on-chip with 4GB of memory. Specifications are nearly identical to Apple's existing A12 Bionic silicon used in iPhone XR, XS and XS Max, but with more base RAM and a higher clock speed. By comparison, iPhone XR is outfitted with a 2.49 GHz A12 Bionic with 3GB of RAM, while the XS and XS Max both net an extra gigabyte of memory.

Assuming the chip is legitimate, its faster clock speed and, in the case of iPhone XR, larger RAM allotment amount to a higher single-core score of 5415. Aggregated Geekbench results show the average iPhone XR scores just over 4800. With a multi-core score of 11294, "iPhone12,1" is in the same league as the current top-of-the-line iPhones.

In single-core evaluations, the supposed "A13" chip does post noticeably increased crypto, integer and floating point scores than Apple's A12 Bionic lineup. Multi-core scores from those same tests are comparable to current hardware save for crypto, which is again much improved. The results could indicate the presence of a rumored math co-processor Apple intends to implement in augmented reality and computer vision operations.

Interestingly, the L1 instruction and data caches of the unrecognized iPhone read out at 48 KB, significantly less than the 128 KB allotted to A12 Bionic processors. The L2 cache is likewise smaller at 4MB, down from 8MB in the iPhone XR and XS series.

A MacRumors forum member spotted the benchmark results earlier today.

Apple is expected to unveil successors to its iPhone XR and XS lines at a special event on Sept. 10. This year's updates are rumored to pack in a triple-lens rear camera and add upgraded internals like two-way wireless charging and larger batteries. Aside from a square camera "bump" and a reportedly reworked mute switch, the design of the device is not expected to change, though frosted glass and new colors could be in the offing.

frantisek

Multicore result is weird and you even do not provide XR value. I found it range from 10300 to 11300 on different tests. So it would mean little (10%) to no difference. IS it possible that PRO versions will become more beefed up?

eriamjh

AppleInsider said:

Aside from a square camera "bump" and a reportedly reworked mute switch, the design of the device is not expected to change, though frosted glass and new colors could be in the offing.

Offing?

cloudtalkin

eriamjh said:

AppleInsider said:

Aside from a square camera "bump" and a reportedly reworked mute switch, the design of the device is not expected to change, though frosted glass and new colors could be in the offing.

Offing?

It means likely to happen soon.  Commonly phrased as in the offing

avon b7

Tweaked A12 for XR successor and A13 for the 'Pro' models?

That might enable them to cut costs on the XR a little although it could push up the cost of the pro models as the A13 would have a smaller market to ship to initially.

edited September 2019

mplsp

eriamjh said:

AppleInsider said:

Aside from a square camera "bump" and a reportedly reworked mute switch, the design of the device is not expected to change, though frosted glass and new colors could be in the offing.

Offing?

If you’re on an iPhone, just highlight the word and tap ‘look up’ to view the definition. You can highlight it and right click on a Mac to do the same thing. If you’re on something else..well...sorry!  

edited September 2019

rogifan_new

avon b7 said:

Tweaked A12 for XR successor and A13 for the 'Pro' models?

That might enable them to cut costs on the XR a little although it could push up the cost of the pro models as the A13 would have a smaller market to ship to initially.

Has Apple ever released a tweaked processor in a new iPhone?

I’m very curious what the pricing structure will be for these new phones. I’m hoping Apple changes the naming conventions so the successor to the XR becomes the iPhone for most people (like the MacBook Air is in the laptop line). But I’m really hoping if they go to ‘Pro’ naming it’s not so they can raise prices. Considering iPhone growth stalling and Apple really pushing the trade-in program hard it seems like raising prices would be off the table. With Apple though you never know.

mplsp

avon b7 said:

Tweaked A12 for XR successor and A13 for the 'Pro' models?

That might enable them to cut costs on the XR a little although it could push up the cost of the pro models as the A13 would have a smaller market to ship to initially.

I’ve read that Intel will down-clock chips that don’t meet specs at their intended clock speeds and sell them as cheaper models. Does anyone know if Apple/TSMC does this with the A series processors?

jcs2305

avon b7 said:

Tweaked A12 for XR successor and A13 for the 'Pro' models?

That might enable them to cut costs on the XR a little although it could push up the cost of the pro models as the A13 would have a smaller market to ship to initially.

XR was cheaper last year with the same A12 as the Xs & Xs Max?  No?

avon b7

jcs2305 said:

avon b7 said:

Tweaked A12 for XR successor and A13 for the 'Pro' models?

That might enable them to cut costs on the XR a little although it could push up the cost of the pro models as the A13 would have a smaller market to ship to initially.

XR was cheaper last year with the same A12 as the Xs & Xs Max?  No?

Yep, but they sold less than they expected. A lot less. That could lead to changes this time around.

However, shipping the same A12 as last year on a supposed new entry level phone might not be perceived as 'new enough'. If they are upgrading the chip in a relatively minor way (one that would fall more or less in line with the benchmarks) to achieve cost savings it might be an option. Pure speculation though.

mplsp

jcs2305 said:

avon b7 said:

Tweaked A12 for XR successor and A13 for the 'Pro' models?

That might enable them to cut costs on the XR a little although it could push up the cost of the pro models as the A13 would have a smaller market to ship to initially.

XR was cheaper last year with the same A12 as the Xs & Xs Max?  No?

IIRC, the Xr processor had less RAM than the Xs version. 

tmay

avon b7 said:

jcs2305 said:

avon b7 said:

Tweaked A12 for XR successor and A13 for the 'Pro' models?

That might enable them to cut costs on the XR a little although it could push up the cost of the pro models as the A13 would have a smaller market to ship to initially.

XR was cheaper last year with the same A12 as the Xs & Xs Max?  No?

Yep, but they sold less than they expected. A lot less. That could lead to changes this time around.

However, shipping the same A12 as last year on a supposed new entry level phone might not be perceived as 'new enough'. If they are upgrading the chip in a relatively minor way (one that would fall more or less in line with the benchmarks) to achieve cost savings it might be an option. Pure speculation though.

It doesn't make sense to build a new XR with an older processor. You don't get enough savings in an older process to make up for the benefit of the new SOC on a newer process. I agree with the post that stated that these were just binned A13's at a lower frequency, and possible less RAM, than the iPhone Pro's will get.

jcs2305

MplsP said:

jcs2305 said:

avon b7 said:

Tweaked A12 for XR successor and A13 for the 'Pro' models?

That might enable them to cut costs on the XR a little although it could push up the cost of the pro models as the A13 would have a smaller market to ship to initially.

XR was cheaper last year with the same A12 as the Xs & Xs Max?  No?

IIRC, the Xr processor had less RAM than the Xs version. 

Yes ..  Same processor less RAM to deal with the lower res LCD screen I believe.

tipoo

Their single core performance gains have been very impressive thus far, but it had to slow down in gains somewhere, looks like we're approaching it if this is true. 

They'll probably pitch other aspects of the SoC, the GPU and the 'matrix' engine. 

avon b7 said:

Tweaked A12 for XR successor and A13 for the 'Pro' models?

That might enable them to cut costs on the XR a little although it could push up the cost of the pro models as the A13 would have a smaller market to ship to initially.

iirc, this was also said around A12 leaked benchmarks (that ended up being true), that it was a tweaked A11, but it was not so. It just looks like they've finally approached the exponential difficulty curve part of single threaded performance. 

edited September 2019

strangedays

rogifan_new said:

avon b7 said:

Tweaked A12 for XR successor and A13 for the 'Pro' models?

That might enable them to cut costs on the XR a little although it could push up the cost of the pro models as the A13 would have a smaller market to ship to initially.

Has Apple ever released a tweaked processor in a new iPhone?

I’m very curious what the pricing structure will be for these new phones. I’m hoping Apple changes the naming conventions so the successor to the XR becomes the iPhone for most people (like the MacBook Air is in the laptop line). But I’m really hoping if they go to ‘Pro’ naming it’s not so they can raise prices. Considering iPhone growth stalling and Apple really pushing the trade-in program hard it seems like raising prices would be off the table. With Apple though you never know.

They needn’t “raise” the prices, there are already two price tiers for brand new models. Renaming the XR to plain iPhone and the XS to Pro fits them just fine. 

ivanh

4GB RAM? I’ll be very disappointed.

1983

Why reduce the L1 & L2 cache sizes?

tht

1983 said:

Why reduce the L1 & L2 cache sizes?

It’s probably an error with GB, as is typical with CPUs that aren’t in their database. They won’t have actual numbers until they can measure memory access latencies with a real device.

tht

ivanh said:

4GB RAM? I’ll be very disappointed.

For a XR successor, that’s a good amount. I’ll be mildly disappointed if the XS successors have 4 GB, but perhaps it’s ok.

It’s really the iPad Pros that need RAM options, like 8 GB and 16 GB memory options, above and beyond the current 4 and 6 GB in the 2018 models. Hopefully it is coming, but I imagine a 16 GB of RAM integrated on-package in the iPad Pro will be expensive. It will surely need it if it is going to be running content creation and other memory intensive apps.

chasm

avon b7 said:

jcs2305 said:

avon b7 said:

Tweaked A12 for XR successor and A13 for the 'Pro' models?

That might enable them to cut costs on the XR a little although it could push up the cost of the pro models as the A13 would have a smaller market to ship to initially.

XR was cheaper last year with the same A12 as the Xs & Xs Max?  No?

Yep, but they sold less than they expected. A lot less.

This is not, in fact, true.

The iPhone XR is the single best-selling model smartphone and iPhone worldwide.