January 22, 2025

All iPhone 16 models may use the same 3nm chipset next year

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Since the launch of the iPhone 14 series, Apple has had the newest SoC in the Pro/ Pro Max models, leaving the non-pro models with the previous years’ chipsets. This year as well, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus options come with last year’s A16 Bionic but the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro options are powered by the industry’s first 3nm A17 Pro chips. But this may change next year.
According to industry analyst Jeff Pu, all the models in the iPhone 16 series – which could be iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone Pro and iPhone Pro Max – may be powered by the same 3nm A18-branded chipset. This means that the vanilla and Plus models may get a much higher degree of performance boost as compared to the Pro and Pro Max models.
However, there could still be a ‘difference’ between Pro and non-Pro models. “The company will use A18 Bionic chips for the standard iPhone 16 models, while the ‘Pro’ models will get A18 Pro chips,” said Pu.
He added that the standard models will skip TSMC’s N3B process and jump straight to the N3E fabrication. According to the analyst, the A18 Pro chip will feature significant upgrades over the A17 Pro chip.
Having said that, it must be noted that the iPhone 16 launch is about a year away, and there is a possibility that the company may have other plans in this regard.
Difference between A17 Pro and A18 series
While both A17 Pro and rumoured A18 and A18 Pro will be manufactured by the same 3nm process, there is still some difference between them. The A18 series will feature the second generation of 3nm chips developed by TSMC and will be fabricated on TSMC’s N3E technology
This technology is said to bring a number of benefits over the N3B process. First, the N3E process will allow for better yields compared to the N3B process. Second, the chips manufactured with the N3E process are said to offer enhanced computational performance while being more power efficient.
Apple is TSMC’s largest customer among other smartphone manufacturers and the 3nm process was first made available to the Cupertino giant, which accounts for 90% of the supplier’s production.



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