The upcoming Apple A19 and A19 Pro chips are generating buzz, especially with performance leaks suggesting groundbreaking improvements over the previous A18 Pro. The two chipsets are expected to launch alongside the iPhone 17 series later this year, and rumors about their performance have already surfaced online.
These chips will reportedly be manufactured using TSMC’s third-generation 3nm process, although Apple is rumored to jump to the 2nm node next year.
So, what’s the big deal with these leaks? According to the reports, the A19 Pro supposedly delivers some jaw-dropping results, claiming up to 80 percent better performance in both single-core and multi-core tests compared to the A18 Pro. The most shocking claim? It apparently outperforms Apple’s M4 chip in multi-core performance. Naturally, this set off alarms, as such an unprecedented leap in performance between generations is highly unlikely, especially from a company like Apple that has historically shown more conservative improvements year over year.
As expected, the internet quickly latched onto these sensationalized results. However, a tech community member on X (@lafaiel) made a crucial observation: these leaked benchmarks are fake
. The screenshot circulating on social media shows an iPhone 17 Pro Max being tested on Geekbench 6, but, as @lafaiel pointed out, official scores for Apple’s upcoming devices won’t be revealed until the September launch event. The leaked results are, therefore, nothing more than a fabrication.
To make matters more suspicious, the fake A19 Pro scores are bizarrely high-4,783 for single-core and 15,324 for multi-core-figures that simply don’t line up with Apple’s usual performance progression. Historically, Apple’s A-series chips don’t exhibit such massive leaps in performance over just one generation. Furthermore, the scores seem to suggest that the iPhone 17 Pro Max would outperform the M4 in both single-threaded and multi-threaded workloads, which is highly improbable.
Perhaps the biggest giveaway is the operating system version displayed in the screenshot. It claims the device is running ‘iOS 27,’ yet no version beyond iOS 26 has been announced or is expected anytime soon. This clear mistake further undermines the credibility of the leak.
Until legitimate benchmarks for the A19 Pro are released, we can safely dismiss these leaks as red flags. Just like a few years ago when a Russian YouTuber got an early hands-on with an M4 MacBook Pro, unless someone gets their hands on an actual retail iPhone 17 Pro Max, these ‘leaks’ should be taken with a grain of salt.