Apple finally unveiled the iPhone 15 Pro series and released its fastest mobile processor to date, the A17 Pro. It has dropped the "Bionic" name to better complement the Pro range. A17 Pro features a redesigned GPU, efficient CPU, powerful neural engine and much more. But how does it fare against the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor? To find out, we compare the Apple A17 Pro and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in detail. That way, let's move on and learn about their differences and similarities.

Take a look at the specs comparison between Apple A17 Pro and Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. It will give you a good overview of both mobile processors. SpecsApple A17 ProSnapdragon 8 Gen 2CPUS processor with six cores, 19 billion transistors Octa-core, Kryo CPUCPU cores 2x high-performance cores 4x high-efficiency cores 1x 3.2 GHz (Cortex-X3) 2x 2.8 GHz (Cortex-X3) 8-7 GHz (Cortex-Aortex-Aortex-7015) 8-7x101C. 3x 2.0GHz (Cortex-A510)Process technologyTSMC's 3nm processTSMC's 4nm processGPUApple Pro-class 6-core GPUHardware-accelerated Ray TracingAdreno 740 GPU; Hardware Accelerated Ray TracingMemory SupportLPDDR5LPDDR5XMachine Learning and AI16-core Neural Engine; 35 TOPSNew AI engine, hexagon processorISPPle-designed image signal processorTriple 18-bit Spectra ISP; Cognitive ISP, Snapdragon SightCamera CapabilityProRAW Photos at 48MPPhotonic EngineCapture Photos up to 200MP, 36MP Triple Images with ZSLVideo Capability4K60 ProRes VideosSpatial Video Recording4K HDR Dolby Vision @ 60FPSCinematic 4KDR2SA, 8KDRS Engine Xdragon HDR2SA G-ModemUp to 10 Gbps Peak DownloadUp to 3.5 Gbps PeakSnapdragon Upload X70 5G modemUp to 10 Gbps Peak DownloadUp to 3.5 Gbps Peak UploadWiFi SupportWi-Fi 6EWi-Fi 7BluetoothBluetooth 5.3Bluetooth 5.3, LE Audio, Dual Bluetooth Antenna, aptX LosslessOthersAV1 DecoderProRes codecPro display engineNavIC SupportAV1 Codec SupportNavIC Support

In this comparison between Apple's A17 Pro and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, let's start with the processor first. In terms of architecture, Apple has gone with its traditional six-core setup. Most notably, the A17 Pro is the first volume-produced chip to be manufactured on TSMC's 3nm node – likely on TSMC's first-generation N3B process. This has resulted in 19 billion transistors on a single die.

The CPU contains two high-performance cores, which are said to be clocked at 3.70 GHz. It offers a 10% performance improvement over previous Everest cores. On top of that, Apple has packed four low-power CPU cores, which is the most efficient mobile CPU core, according to Apple. It offers 3x the performance per watt against the competition, most likely referring to the A510 core. So in terms of both CPU performance and efficiency, Apple has done a solid job on the A17 Pro, thanks to TSMC's latest 3nm process node.