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iPhone 16 and 16 Plus Again Rumored to Jump From A16 to A18 Chip

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All four iPhone 16 models will be equipped with A18-branded chips, according to Jeff Pu, an analyst who covers Apple and its supply chain. He first shared this prediction last month, and he touched on the topic again in a research note this week with Hong Kong-based investment firm Haitong International Securities.

iPhone-16-To-Skip-A17-Feature.jpg

In his latest note, Pu said "we expect all iPhone 16 models to feature A18," and he expects the chips to be manufactured with chipmaker TSMC's second-generation 3nm process "N3E." Pu referred to the A17 Pro chip in the iPhone 15 Pro models, based on TSMC's first-generation 3nm process "N3B," as a "transition design."

In response to an email from MacRumors last month, Pu outlined his specific expectations:
  • iPhone 16: A18 chip (N3E)
  • iPhone 16 Plus: A18 chip (N3E)
  • iPhone 16 Pro: A18 Pro chip (N3E)
  • iPhone 16 Pro Max: A18 Pro chip (N3E)
N3E is less expensive and has improved yield compared to N3B, according to TSMC.

The standard iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus use the A16 Bionic chip, so a jump to the A18 chip for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus would be a notable and unique change, as it means these two models would skip over an A17-branded chip.

Given that the iPhone 16 lineup is still around 11 months away from launching, Pu is likely making an educated guess here with the marketing names, so it remains to be seen if Apple actually moves forward with A18 and A18 Pro branding. It is possible that Apple could brand its iPhone 16 chips as the A17 and A18 Pro, mirroring recent years.

Pu was the first source to report that Apple had abandoned its plans for solid-state buttons on the iPhone 15 Pro models. He also accurately revealed that the iPhone 15 Pro models would be equipped with an increased 8GB of RAM, and that the iPhone 15 Pro Max would have a higher starting price than the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Article Link: iPhone 16 and 16 Plus Again Rumored to Jump From A16 to A18 Chip
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/10/19/iphone-16-jump-from-a16-to-a18-chip-rumor/
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I'm guessing they will both use the "A18" chip but the 16 Pro will use the "A18 Pro" chip and the 16 Plus will use the regular A18 (non-Pro) chip which will simply be a rebranded A17 Pro chip.
 
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MacRumors said:


All four iPhone 16 models will be equipped with A18-branded chips, according to Jeff Pu, an analyst who covers Apple and its supply chain. He first shared this prediction last month, and he touched on the topic again in a research note this week with Hong Kong-based investment firm Haitong International Securities.

iPhone-16-Side-Feature.jpg

In his latest note, Pu said "we expect all iPhone 16 models to feature A18," and he expects the chips to be manufactured with chipmaker TSMC's second-generation 3nm process "N3E." Pu referred to the A17 Pro chip in the iPhone 15 Pro models, based on TSMC's first-generation 3nm process "N3B," as a "transition design."

In response to an email from MacRumors last month, Pu outlined his specific expectations:
  • iPhone 16: A18 chip (N3E)
  • iPhone 16 Plus: A18 chip (N3E)
  • iPhone 16 Pro: A18 Pro chip (N3E)
  • iPhone 16 Pro Max: A18 Pro chip (N3E)
N3E is less expensive and has improved yield compared to N3B, according to TSMC.

The standard iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus use the A16 Bionic chip, so a jump to the A18 chip for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus would be a notable and unique change, as it means these two models would skip over an A17-branded chip.

Given that the iPhone 16 lineup is still around 11 months away from launching, Pu is likely making an educated guess here with the marketing names, so it remains to be seen if Apple actually moves forward with A18 and A18 Pro branding. It is possible that Apple could brand its iPhone 16 chips as the A17 and A18 Pro, mirroring recent years.

Pu was the first source to report that Apple had abandoned its plans for solid-state buttons on the iPhone 15 Pro models. He also accurately revealed that the iPhone 15 Pro models would be equipped with an increased 8GB of RAM, and that the iPhone 15 Pro Max would have a higher starting price than the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Article Link: iPhone 16 and 16 Plus Again Rumored to Jump From A16 to A18 Chip
Click to expand...
Makes sense, they will now have a standard & a Pro Chip, I suspect the main difference will be that the standard chip, will not have the fast USB-C download speeds and probably will be clocked lower
 
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What if they just never make the A17 chip? Feel like that would be a weird bit of Apple trivia, “An A17 chip never shipped in any Apple device.”
 
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128KMac said:
Still have my 12 pro max and I think this means I'll keep waiting - but would like to see an even more powerful peri telescopic lens w stabilization. Can they fit a 10X in?
Click to expand...
Better quality for the 5x would be my preference and all camera's with 48 mega pixels
 
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The regular models seem to be trending with valuable upgrades year to year despite the Pro models already having them.
 
Easier to justify the 'non-pro' phones doing it this way.

A18 and A18 Pro at least gives the impression that the performance is closer to the average consumer than 'settling' for a chip which is perfectly fine that was originally produced the year prior.

Consumers are weird like that.
 
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Yup, this is definitely happening.
But 16 Pro is definitely getting the higher-binned version for CPU and/or GPU cores.
 
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While there are actual engineering differences, from a performance perspective this is mostly a story about naming conventions. Apple will differentiate the performance between iPhone 16 and 16 Pro regardless of what they call the processors. The main consequence is how Apple markets the naming convention, such as M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max and M2 Ultra.

A better example: The M1 would have been called the A14X had it been originally destined for an iPad instead of a Mac.

By putting the A14X in a Mac and calling it M1, then later putting the M1 in an iPad, the story became about how Apple put a Mac processor in the iPad rather than about how Apple put an iPad processor in the Mac.
 
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Branding is irrelevant for many of us. Remember how S8 SiP is identical to S7 and S6? What matters is performance and uarch.

How cut down is A18 compared to A18 Pro? N3 wafers are expensive, so it’s very unlikely Apple will simply use a binned A18 Pro. Will A18 have much less SLC? Fewer cores? GHz? That’s what matters.
 
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I cannot see what all the fuss is about, as any iPhone with A14 and later runs iOS 17 just fine. It is just a normal chip evolution, just this time around they will replace a more production cumbersome A17 design with a better A18 option. I doubt that a normal iPhone user not geekbenching or timing everything will notice much day-to-day difference between A15 and A18.
 
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Savings from reusing A15 Bionic and A16 Bionic allowed Apple to use the same chip (A18 Pro) for the non-Pro and Pro models...

Or it could be A18 and A18 Pro, although now that Pro replaced Bionic, I don't think they will use a non-Pro and Pro in naming the chipset...

Or they could have 2 variations of A18 Pro, with some features only available for iPhone 16 Pro series...
 
MacRumors said:
In his latest note, Pu said "we expect all iPhone 16 models to feature A18," and he expects the chips to be manufactured with chipmaker TSMC's second-generation 3nm process "N3E." Pu referred to the A17 Pro chip in the iPhone 15 Pro models, based on TSMC's first-generation 3nm process "N3B," as a "transition design."
Click to expand...
Hopefully the A18 based on N3E yields are better then the N3B based A17 Pro production. :cool:
 
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