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# The A19 Pro is a transcription beast
- URL: https://birchtree.me/blog/the-a19-pro-is-a-transcription-beast/
- Published: 2025-09-24T16:16:35.000Z
- Updated: 2025-09-24T16:16:34.000Z
- Author: Matt Birchler

I happen to have a new app on the App Store that is a pretty good benchmark for a certain type of processing across Apple's devices. [Quick Subtitles](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/quick-subtitles/id6747410609?ref=birchtree.me) is a pretty simple app that uses Apple's new speech frameworks to transcribe audio and video files on an Apple Silicon device running OS 26 or later (Mac version coming soon-ish). It works exactly the same on each platform, so it should be a pretty good test of the processor speed and neural engine performance.

I've run quite a few test across 4 devices:

1. MacBook Pro (M4 Pro)
2. iPhone 17 Pro (A19 Pro)
3. iPhone 16 Pro Max (A18 Pro)
4. iPhone 16e (A18)

The file being transcribed is a 92MB, 50 minute MP3 of the next Cozy Zone episode (it's a banger, [get subscribed](https://www.macstories.net/comfort-zone/?ref=birchtree.me) 😁). Here are the results again:

| Processor | Time to transcribe 50 min MP3 (in seconds) |
| --------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| M4 Pro    | 30.2                                       |
| A19 Pro   | 35.1                                       |
| A18 Pro   | 56.4                                       |
| A18       | 56.7                                       |

I ran the test several times on each device, and the above numbers are an average across all runs. The numbers were pretty consistent, never varying by more than a couple seconds.

- Generating a transcript in one minute on a phone has been blowing me away all summer.
- The new iPhone's A19 Pro demolishes the outgoing A18 lineup at this task, nearly matching my high-end Mac.
- The A19 Pro transcribes about 60% faster than the A18 Pro.