The iPhone 16 and 16 Pro have been available for almost two weeks, and, after tests, benchmarks and teardowns, here’s a first look at the processor inside them, thanks to new images from ChipWise. These photos show a close-up of the A18 and A18 Pro chips, but not only.
Two different names
At first glance, the A18 and A18 Pro chips seem very similar. Apple’s iPhone 16 comparison page lists nearly identical specs for both. Because of these similarities and the effort required to develop two separate chips, we logically thought of chip binninga process by which chips with slight defects are reused for lower-end models.
It was legitimate to think that the standard A18 chip was a Pro version with one fewer GPU core, either deliberately removed or defective. Apple does this on other products, like the M1, M2 or M3 chips depending on whether it’s an iPad, MacBook or Mac mini.
| A18 | A18 Pro | |
| CPU | 6-hearts | 6-hearts |
| GPU | 5-hearts | 6-hearts |
| Neural Engine | 16-core | 16-core |
However, the new photos of ChipWise suggest that the A18 and A18 Pro are actually two completely separate chips.
Two different chips
We know that the A18 Pro SoC has additional features, such as support for USB3 and technology that powers the always-on 120Hz (ProMotion) display. However, given Apple’s large scale of production, it was common knowledge that Apple would use a single chip for the entire range, disabling certain features of the standard iPhone 16 and 16 Plus in the process.
But according to today’s macro photos, that’s not the case. And that’s good news. Indeed, Apple must have planned ahead in order to produce a cheaper chip for the iPhone 16, but also other future entry-level products such as the iPad mini 7, the iPad 11, the iPhone SE 4, or perhaps the rumored HomePod Pro smart display. Enough to offer Apple Intelligence everywhere.
We should learn more in the coming days, probably with microprocessor specialists.
Here are the photos in question:
