Apple's A18 Chips Tipped to Power Entire iPhone 16 Lineup

iPhone 15 Pro fueled by A17 Bionic chip carries the identifier iPhone16,1.

Written by Nithya P Nair, Edited by Manas Mitul | Updated: 3 July 2024 12:17 IST

Apple's A18 Chips Tipped to Power Entire iPhone 16 Lineup

Photo Credit: Apple

iPhone 15 Pro models run on A17 Pro chip

Highlights

Five identifiers were observed in Apple's backend code
The list starts with iPhone 17,1
The fifth model could be a future iPhone SE update

iPhone 16 lineup is expected to launch in September with a few upgrades over last year's iPhone family. Early rumours suggested that the top-end iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max models will usher in a new A-series processor. At the same time, the regular iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus were believed to pack the A17 Pro Bionic chip found in this year's iPhone 15 Pro models. Now, a leaked code from Apple's backend indicates that Apple is planning to arm the same A18 SoC across the entire iPhone 16 lineup.

iPhone 16 identifiers leaked

Back-end code discovered by Nicolas Alvarez (@nicolas09F9) and reported by MacRumors revealed that Apple will release four iPhone models this year and they will run on the same A18 chip. The discovered identifiers are — iPhone 17,1, iPhone 17,2, iPhone 17,3, iPhone 17,4, and iPhone 17,5. All five start with the same number, which reportedly indicates that Apple plans to use the same chip for them. The fifth identified could be used for another device, possibly a future iPhone SE variant.

Apple usually links the identifier to the chip being used. Last year's iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, which use the A16 Bionic SoC, came with identifiers iPhone 15,4 and iPhone 15,5. Both the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max fueled by the A17 Pro Bionic chipset, have identifiers iPhone 16,1 and iPhone 16,2.

iPhone 16 Lineup to Get New Battery That Could Last Longer: Report

If Apple follows this familiar identifier numbering scheme this year, we can expect all four iPhone 16 models to ship with the same A18 chip. The company might bring a two-tier system by packing an A18 on the standard models and an A18 Pro chip with different GPU and CPU scores on the iPhone 16 Pro models. We've heard several rumours corroborating these claims.

Apple Might Slash Battery Capacity of This iPhone 16 Model

Apple has not revealed any details about the forthcoming iPhone models yet. Therefore, all these details should be considered with a pinch of salt.

Apple iPhone 15

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Big upgrades over the 14
Excellent ergonomics, build quality
Very good all-round performance
Apple ecosystem benefits

Bad
Relatively slow charging
Expensive
Still a 60Hz display

Read detailed Apple iPhone 15 review

Display 6.10-inch

Processor Apple A16 Bionic

Front Camera 12-megapixel

Rear Camera 48-megapixel + 12-megapixel

RAM 6GB

Storage 128GB, 256GB, 512GB

OS iOS 17

Resolution 1179x2556 pixels

More Apple mobiles Apple mobiles price in India

Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Excellent display
USB Type-C
AAA gaming
Excellent all-round performance
Good primary and telephoto camera
Customisable Action Button

Bad
Gets hot quickly when stressed
Slow wired charging
Expensive

Read detailed Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max review

Display 6.70-inch

Processor Apple A17 Pro

Front Camera 12-megapixel

Rear Camera 48-megapixel + 12-megapixel + 12-megapixel

RAM 8GB

Storage 256GB, 512GB, 1TB

OS iOS 17

Resolution 1290x2796 pixels

More Apple mobiles Apple mobiles price in India

Apple iPhone 15 Pro

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Display 6.10-inch

Processor Apple A17 Pro

Front Camera 12-megapixel

Rear Camera 48-megapixel + 12-megapixel + 12-megapixel

RAM 8GB

Storage 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB

OS iOS 17

Resolution 1179x2556 pixels

More Apple mobiles Apple mobiles price in India

Apple iPhone 15 Plus

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Display 6.70-inch

Processor Apple A16 Bionic

Front Camera 12-megapixel

Rear Camera 48-megapixel + 12-megapixel

RAM 8GB

Storage 128GB, 256GB, 512GB

OS iOS 17

Resolution 1290x2796 pixels

More Apple mobiles Apple mobiles price in India

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Further reading: iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 16 Plus, Apple, A18

Nithya P Nair

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Nithya P Nair is a journalist with more than five years of experience in digital journalism. She specialises in business and technology beats. A foodie at heart, Nithya loves exploring new places (read cuisines) and sneaking in Malayalam movie dialogues to spice up conversations. More