Apple’s A10 Fusion may have remarkable improvements to offer in terms of performance and efficiency along with its much bigger cores compared to the competition, the graphics architecture running inside the quad-core processor actually leaves a lot to desire.
That’s primarily because rather than using a next-gen PowerVR GPU inside the new iPhone flagship, Cupertino chose to go with the custom PowerVR GT7600 GPU which basically happens to be the same GPU inside the 2015 flagship iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.
Apple claims that the A10 is 2x faster compared to A9, its predecessor, while the GPU is also nearly 50% faster
However, according to a new analysis by the Linley Group, the benchmarking was a mixed bag for A10 Fusion’s GPU’s performance. While Some benchmark tests somewhat confirmed Apple’s GPU performance improvement claims, the results of others were completely off the mark. For example, the analysis showed that the high level of GPU performance was just temporary.
Overall, it is possible that Apple’s GPU is unable to sustain its peak performance over a long period without overheating. Therefore, in an effort to avoid overheating, the chip retreats and lowers its top GPU speed after just a minute or so.
“We believe the iPhone 7, to avoid overheating, throttles back from its top GPU speed after a minute or less, preventing it from achieving a high score for all users,” noted Linley Gwennap, founder and principal analyst at Linley Group, in a research note.
The real culprit, according to Linley Group’s analysis, is the PowerVR’s architecture that’s growing increasingly unpopular among many device manufacturers. Apple, however, continues tweaking the GPU even now so as to retain its tight control over both software and hardware. By doing so, the company is offering certain benefits such as longer battery life and a better performance, but not without at a cost on several other fronts.