How fast are the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max compared to one another? How fast are they compared to earlier iPhone models?

With even a cursory review of the company press releases for the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus as well as the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, respectively, one would notice that there is more attention placed on camera quality and device features than on performance. In fact, many of the references to "performance" are about the low light performance of the camera rather than overall speed.

Photo Credit: Apple, Inc. (iPhone 14)

Performance Promotion

However, if you dig into the details, Apple does offer some overall performance info.

Apple promotes the "A15 Bionic" processor in the entry-level iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus accordingly:

A15 Bionic brings incredible performance to iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. Still faster than all the competition at any price, the 5-core GPU enables even smoother graphics for video apps and high-performance gaming, and powers incredible camera features like Photonic Engine and Cinematic mode, all while delivering impressive battery life, and protecting privacy and security with the Secure Enclave. The 6-core CPU handles demanding tasks smoothly and efficiently, and the 16-core Neural Engine is capable of 15.8 trillion operations per second, enabling even faster machine learning computations for features in iOS 16 and third-party app experiences.

The higher-end iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max have a newer processor -- the "A16 Bionic" -- and more specific performance details are provided, as well:

The A16 Bionic chip in iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max is generations ahead of the competition, and unlocks unparalleled experiences like the Dynamic Island, powers all-day battery life, and delivers impressive computational photography capabilities. With two high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores, the new 6-core CPU is up to 40 percent faster than the competition and easily handles demanding workloads. A16 Bionic features an accelerated 5-core GPU with 50 percent more memory bandwidth -- perfect for graphics-intensive games and apps -- and a new 16-core Neural Engine capable of nearly 17 trillion operations per second. . . Fundamental to the pro camera system, A16 Bionic powers incredible computational photography features. The CPU, GPU, Neural Engine, and image signal processor seamlessly work together to support the new camera hardware and perform up to 4 trillion operations per photo.

With comparisons to unnamed "competition" rather than earlier iPhone models, and more emphasis on camera quality and features, an alert student of marketing would assume that the performance gains of the iPhone 14 line are modest compared to earlier models.

Because the entry-level iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus models use the same processor as the earlier iPhone 13 (albeit with an extra GPU core), it would be reasonable to assume that this performance difference is especially minor.

The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models use a newer architecture than the entry-level iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, though, and should be faster, accordingly.

Exactly how much faster the "Pro" models are compared to their non-Pro contemporaries and earlier iPhone models only can be revealed through impartial testing, though.

Benchmark Performance Overview

For a helpful general overview of the performance differences between the iPhone 14, iPhone 13, iPhone 12, iPhone 11 and earlier devices as well as the iPad and iPod touch, Everyi.com's own Ultimate iComparison makes it quick to compare side-by-side Geekbench benchmark averages for hundreds of possible performance comparisons.

Compared to one another, the Geekbench 5 benchmark demonstrates that the entry-level iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus essentially are the same speed. The higher-end iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are essentially the same speed, as well. However, the "Pro" models are around 9% faster than the entry-level models in single core tasks and around 19% faster in multicore tasks; a not insignificant difference.

Compared to the earlier iPhone 13 (2021), the entry-level iPhone 14/iPhone 14 Plus (2022) models are roughly the same speed in single core tasks and around 4% or so faster in multicore tasks. With such a small performance increase, it isn't a surprise why Apple doesn't provide much in the way of specifics in its press release.

Compared to other recent iPhone models, the iPhone 14 Pro rings up more impressive results, using the Geekbench 5 benchmark, though:

iPhone 14 Pro Compared To:	Percent Faster (Single Core)	Percent Faster (Multicore)
iPhone 14/14 Plus	9%	19%
iPhone 13 mini/13/13 Pro/13 Pro Max	10%	23%
iPhone 12 mini/12/12 Pro/12 Pro Max	19%	39%
iPhone 11/11 Pro/11 Pro Max	42%	70%
iPhone SE (3rd Gen)	9%	22%
iPhone SE (2nd Gen)	43%	97%
iPhone XS	70%	103%
iPhone XR	70%	114%

With a review of the above, you can see clearly that the Geekbench 5 benchmark demonstrates that the iPhone 14 Pro is a not insignificant 10% to 23% or so faster than the iPhone 13 released the year before and is more and more significantly faster compared to iPhone models from earlier years.

Performance Summary

Ultimately, the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus are barely faster than the iPhone models released the year before, but the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are 10% to 23% or so faster. In the real-world, though, this performance increase may not be that noticeable in day-to-day use. The improvements in low light photography are much more noticeable.

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