iPhone 16e's initial benchmark suggests a drop in GPU performance

Apple's recently announced iPhone 16e has taken a lot from users while putting a $599 price tag on the device. One of the things that Apple stripped away from its newest iPhone is a GPU core. The modified A18 chip on iPhone 16e has four GPU cores instead of five on iPhone 16, which also runs A18.

Early graphics benchmarks of the iPhone 16e have appeared on the web, suggesting that the lower GPU count has affected its performance up to some extent. The device with the identifier "iPhone 17,5" running iOS 18.3.1 achieved a Geekbench Metal score of 24188, first spotted by MySmartPrice. That's a drop of about 13% compared to the Metal scores of iPhone 16 (27669) and iPhone 16 Plus (27772).

However, it may not translate to a noticeable difference in everyday usage, considering the binned A18 chip still has a 6-core GPU. Apple claims the 4-core GPU still has the muscles to handle "stunning graphics performance and unlocks next-level mobile gaming on the go, enabling graphically demanding AAA titles and hardware-accelerated ray tracing for more realistic lighting and reflections."

The benchmark results also reveal that the iPhone 16e has 8GB RAM inside, fueling previous estimates about its memory capacity. It is also the minimum requirement to run Apple Intelligence, as senior executive Johny Srouji confirmed last year.

Meanwhile, there is still a question mark around the size of the battery Apple has fitted into the device. Apple has managed to bump the battery life to 26 hours for video playback, four hours more than the iPhone 16 and up to 12 hours longer than previous models, including the iPhone SE 3 and SE 2.

Apple said it will put the iPhone 16e up for pre-orders on February 21 at 5 am PST, and the device will be available from February 28. We will get a better idea of how the lower GPU count affects graphics-hungry workloads and everyday tasks once the device gets into the hands of more users.

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