iPhone 16 leak suggests Apple will bring A18 chip to all models
Apple has been prioritizing Pro iPhones with new, more powerful chipsets, but that could change with the iPhone 16. Apple’s push into AI via Apple Intelligence could be a pleasant surprise for people waiting for the launch of the iPhone 16 lineup. Multiple reports suggest that all models of the upcoming iPhone 16 will feature […]
Apple has been prioritizing Pro iPhones with new, more powerful chipsets, but that could change with the iPhone 16.
Apple’s push into AI via Apple Intelligence could be a pleasant surprise for people waiting for the launch of the iPhone 16 lineup.
Multiple reports suggest that all models of the upcoming iPhone 16 will feature the new A18 chipset. A code change discovered by Nicolas Alvarez reveals five new iPhone models in Apple’s backend code, each likely to be powered by the A18 chip.
The identifiers of the five new iPhone models are:
- iPhone17.1
- iPhone 17.2
- iPhone 17.3
- iPhone 17.4
- iPhone 17.5
The fact that all of these model identifiers start with the same number is a clear clue that these five iPhones will have the same chipset, explains MacRumors.
To learn more about the naming convention, the publication states that the A16 Bionic chip powers the base versions of the iPhone 15 and is also present in the iPhone 14 Pro lineup. At the same time, the iPhone 15 Pro and the Pro Max are equipped with the A17 Pro chipset. The difference in the identification models of the four phones can be seen below.
- iPhone 15 – iPhone 15.4
- iPhone 15 Plus – iPhone 15.5
- iPhone 15 Pro – iPhone 16,1
- iPhone 15 Pro Max – iPhone 16.2
Apple typically associates iPhone IDs with chips. All devices with the A16 chip had an ID starting with 15, and older devices with an A15 chip had an ID starting with 14.
We’re not sure why five phone IDs have been spotted this time around. The iPhone 16 lineup is said to consist of four phones: iPhone 16, Plus, Pro, and Pro Max. The fifth could be a new iPhone SE or a next-generation iPhone. We don’t have that information at the time of writing.
A report from The China Times Apple also agrees with the theory that the same chipset is used on all iPhone 16 models. The report states that Apple has ordered TSMC to produce 90 to 100 million units of the 3nm A18 chipset.
The report does not specify the distinction between the A18 and the A18 Pro. However, it also states that all models in the iPhone 16 lineup will have 8GB of RAM instead of the 6GB of RAM found on the predecessors.
It should be noted that AI features on the device are resource intensive and require more RAM. That’s why Apple Intelligence will not work on older iPhones.
Apple’s purchase of a large number of chipsets and the increase in the amount of RAM across all models clearly indicates that the company does not want to limit Apple Intelligence features to just the Pro models.
