A18 Pro Runs Genshin Impact The Best On An iPhone 16 Pro Max, But Still Gets Marginally Outperformed By A Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 With Active Cooling

Apple has designed an improved thermal solution for the iPhone 16 series that allows all models to maintain their temperatures and performance when running intensive programs such as games. The iPhone 16 Pro Max evidently displays this in a new Genshin Impact test, where the flagship featuring the A18 Pro obtains a decent lead over the iPhone 15 Pro Max, only to be beaten by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 that is powering a flagship with an active cooling solution.

With no active cooling for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, the A18 Pro is 42.5 percent faster in Genshin Impact; Surprisingly, the A18 running in the base iPhone 16 is only a tad bit slower

The A18 Pro running in the iPhone 16 Pro Max maintains a framerate of 55.5FPS in Genshin Impact, according to the in-depth testing done by Geekerwan. What is interesting to note is that the same SoC powering the smaller iPhone 16 Pro managed to achieve 49.5FPS, making the larger model 12 percent faster. This difference indicates that Apple’s new thermal solution helps to dissipate heat effectively in bigger devices. However, the story is strangely different with the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, as the A18 running in the smaller 6.1-inch handset obtains a higher framerate than its bigger 6.7-inch brother.

Initially, we were surprised to learn that the A18 Pro is slower than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, but there is a little twist here that readers should know. Qualcomm’s current-generation flagship SoC is running in the REDMAGIC 9S Pro, which is equipped with an active cooling fan that allows the chipset to maintain its CPU and GPU frequencies for longer, resulting in Genshin Impact running at a solid 59.9FPS. Now, take out that component and run the same chipset in the Xiaomi 14 Pro, which features a passive cooler, and you get just 38.9FPS.

If we perform an ‘apples to apples’ comparison, the A18 Pro running in the iPhone 16 Pro Max is 42.5 percent faster than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and on par with the Dimensity 9300+ running in the Vivo X100s. Last year, the iPhone 15 Pro paired with the A17 Pro was certainly a lethal combination, but running the same Genshin Impact title saw a boatload of stutters, resulting in performance drops due to thermal throttling.

What we have seen in the image above involving the iPhone 16 Pro Max is undoubtedly impressive, but it will be exciting to see some gameplay footage and investigate if the same stutters or performance drops are witnessed with the A18 Pro. Going by these stats, those who want to engage in some gaming sessions should opt for the more affordable iPhone 16, as the only difference between the A18 and A18 Pro is a single GPU core, and that hardly introduced some noteworthy benefits in the Genshin Impact’s average framerate.