iPhone 16 leak indicates Apple is bringing A18 chip to all models
AppleApple has favored the Pro iPhones with new and more powerful chipsets but this might change with the iPhone 16.
Apple’s push towards AI via Apple Intelligence may come with a pleasant surprise for the people waiting for the launch of the iPhone 16 lineup.
Multiple reports suggest that all the models of the upcoming iPhone 16 will sport the new A18 chipset. A code change discovered by Nicolás Alvarez reveals five new iPhone models in Apple’s backend code, each likely to be powered by the A18 chip.
The identifiers for five new iPhone models are:
- iPhone17,1
- iPhone17,2
- iPhone17,3
- iPhone17,4
- iPhone17,5
The fact that all these model identifiers start with the same number is a clear giveaway that these five iPhones will have the same chipset, explains MacRumors.
Further elaborating on the naming convention, the publication says 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 Pro Max have A17 Pro chipset. The difference in the four phones’ identifier patterns 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 ties the iPhone identifiers to chips. Everything with the A16 chip had an identifier starting with 15, and older devices with an A15 chip had an identifier beginning with 14.
We’re not sure why 5 phone identifiers were spotted this time. The iPhone 16 lineup is said to have four phones: iPhone 16, Plus, Pro, and Pro Max. The fifth could be a new iPhone SE or one from the next generation of iPhones. We do not have this information at the time of writing.
AppleA report from China Times also concurs with the theory that the same chipset is used on all iPhone 16 models. The report says that Apple has ordered TSMC to produce 90 to 100 million units of 3nm A18 chipset.
The report doesn’t clarify the division between A18 and A18 Pro. However, it also says that all the models in the iPhone 16 lineup will have 8GB of RAM instead of the 6GB RAM found on the predecessors.
It is worth noting that on-device AI features are resource-hungry and require more RAM. This is why Apple Intelligence won’t work on older iPhones.
Apple procuring a large number of chipsets and upgrading the amount of RAM on all models is a clear giveaway that the company does not want to limit Apple Intelligence features only to the Pro models.