Apple’s next A16 chip may only come with the iPhone 14 Pro
The upcoming Apple iPhone 14 lineup is expected to introduce Apple’s latest A16 chip. However, a new report suggests only the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max will receive the new A16 chip.
The regular Apple iPhone 14 and 14 Max will continue to use use the A15 Bionic, which is the same processor used with the current iPhone 13 lineup.
Apple generally use more cores and higher clock speeds for the Pro variants of the iPhone, as seen with the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. If the reports are true, the iPhone 14 will be the first in the lineup since the iPhone 5S and 5C to use a different processor for the more expensive models.
However, the A15 is still the most powerful smartphone chip on the market right now, beating the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 from Qualcomm, as used with the latest Samsung Galaxy S22 and Oppo Find X5 Pro.
The report comes from the reputable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has previously mentioned details about the upcoming iPhone 14.
One possible reason for the different processors is the ongoing chip shortage. The increased demand for consumer phones and laptops has resulted in a chip crisis, with TMSC (the Taiwanese company manufacturing the A15 & A16 chips) struggling to keep up with demand. As the infrastructure and tooling is already in place for the A15, it may be far easier to keep up with demand for the current chip as opposed to the new A16.
Ming-Chi Kuo also states all Apple iPhone 14 models will come with 6GB RAM, however the Pro and Pro Max variants will include LPDDR 5 memory, whereas the regular and Max models will use LPDDR 4X memory, which is the same technology used with the current iPhone 13 models.
Furthermore, Ming-Chi Kuo has also disclosed the screen sizes of the upcoming models:
- iPhone 14 (6.1 inch)
- iPhone 14 Max (6.7 inch)
- iPhone 14 Pro (6.1 inch)
- iPhone 14 Pro Max (6.7 inch)
As previously reported, the regular iPhone 14 models will keep the prominent notch design, however the upcoming Pro models are expected to ditch the notch altogether, with a circle and pill shaped cutout for Face ID and ambient sensors.