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There was a time when Apple was the number one in the world when it came to SoCs and every new Apple release was celebrated wildly. However the Apple A19 and Apple A19 Pro have been released under entirely different circumstances.

For context, Apple didn’t just reinvent the phone, they also reinvented the smartphone processor and it is thanks to them that smartphone SoCs can compete with mobile CPUs on laptops. Yes, the smartphone SoC is a fully fledged processor and we should be grateful to Apple for this

For 10 years, Apple dominated the industry until Nuvia slipped out from under their noses and other companies like MediaTek and Qualcomm have quietly caught up and dare I say surpassed them.

So the Apple A19 and A19 Pro have popped up in a world where Apple are no longer top dogs but have to compete with two other upstarts.

These two processors are built on the current gen 3nm TSMC process. They were both announced in September of 2025 and replace last year’s Apple A18 and A18 Pro.

Apple A19 and Apple A19 Pro Specs

Performance

The Apple A19 and A19 Pro are both equipped with a hexa core CPU setup. There are 2x Performance Cores (4.26GHz) and 4x Battery efficiency cores. These cores are all custom cores built off ARMv9.4 CPU designs.

The two performance CPU cores can pull world class performance. This system was clearly set up Nuvia who have gone on to replicate this set up via the Oryon CPUs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.

The 4 efficiency cores can handle the regular tasks whilst saving battery efficiently. They run at 2.6GHz and also push out world class performance as well.

GPU, Graphics and Gaming

The GPU on both SoCs are also rather similar with a few exceptions. Whilst Apple has been very tight-lipped about the specs of these GPUs, we know their names and some key specs. These GPUs are the Apple A19 GPU and the Apple A19 Pro GPU. They both run at 1,620MHz and are built using the exact same architecture.

However that’s where the similarities end. The Apple A19 GPU’s has 5 cores whilst the Apple A19 Pro’s GPU has 6 cores. This extra core gives the Apple A19 Pro (2488.3 Gigaflops) better performance in graphics and gaming over the A19 (2073.6 Gigaflops).

RAM and Storage

Both SoCs use LPDDR5X RAM running at 4266MHz and supports the latest version of Apple’s low powered NVMe storage.

Benchmarks

To quantify the performance of both chips, we’ll have to turn to benchmarks.

On GeekBench 6.4, the A19 scores 3621 in single cores and 9168 in multi core tests. The A19 Pro scores slightly higher. It does 3820 in single core and 10,021 in multi core. On AnTuTu 10, the A19 hits 2.2 million points whilst the A19 Pro does better with 2.6 million points.

For comparison, the Dimensity 9500 does 9974 points on GeekBench whilst the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 hits 12,396. So this means that with 9k and 10k points, Apple’s SoCs are smack in the middle in terms of performance.

This means that Apple are still very capable of producing world-class performance but those days where Apple absolutely outclassed the competition are long gone.

AI

Apple combines their Neural engine (16 core) with a custom made Neural accelerator (5 cores) to increase AI performance.

This produces a performance of about 45 TOPS. Both the A19 and A19 Pro use the same AI engine.

Camera and Video

Both processors support a max resolution of 48MP cameras and support videos recordings and playback of 4K@120fps. Apple’s 4K videos are still some of the best in the entire smartphone industry.

Connectivity

Both SoCs are equipped with a Snapdragon X80 5G modem which offers 5G (sub-6GHz and mmwave) and 4G LTE Cat 24 connectivity. There’s also support Bluetooth 6.0, WiFi 7 and USB 3.2

Conclusion

In a different world, the Apple A19 and A19 Pro would be absolute world beaters, breaking and setting new records. However the world has changed and Apple must accept it and up their game.

Both chips are absolutely world class but they’re no longer the absolute best.

Want more grounded articles like this? Follow Inquisitive Universe—where hype gets checked and specs get real.

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