Apple has just unveiled the iPhone 16 series. The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus pack Apple’s A18 chip. But the Pro models including iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max come with Apple’s A18 Pro chips. So, it is important to understand how A18 and A18 Pro chips differ.
Last year with A17 Pro, Apple started using a 3nm process for making its chips. However, the A16 Bionic chips used in iPhone 15 were still using 4nm architecture. Both A18 and A18 Pro are manufactured using a 2nd generation 3nm process with smaller transistors. Apple says that the A8 chip offers the same level of performance as the A16 Bionic, but uses 30% less power. In the same way, the A18 Pro uses 20% less power compared to the A17 Pro while offering the same performance.
Both A18 and A18 Pro have 6-core CPUs including two high-performance cores and four efficiency cores. Apple’s A18 Soc includes a 5-core GPU and A18 Pro has a 6-core GPU. So, the A18 Pro has a slightly more powerful GPU. Both the cops support hardware-accelerated Ray Tracing. A18 and A18 Pro support 17% faster LPDDR5 memory.
The Neural Engine is also the same in both A18 and A18 Pro. Apple is using a 16-core Neural Engine that can perform up to 35 trillion operations per second (TOPS). With faster memory, the Neural Engine can offer powerful on-device AI tasks. Apple also says that the Neural Engine is twice as fast as in A16 Bionic. This makes the iPhone 16 series powerful in terms of on-device AI capability.
If we look at connectivity, both the chips come with the same 5G modem. Although we don’t know the exact specifications, it is likely to be the Snapdragon X75 5G modem. You also get Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3.
Apple A18 vs A18 Pro
| A18 | A18 Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing Process | TSMC’s 2nd Gen 3nm process | TSMC’s 2nd Gen 3nm process |
| CPU | Six-core CPU (2+4) | Six-core CPU (2+4) |
| Cores | 2x Performance cores 4x Efficiency cores | 2x Performance cores 4x Efficiency cores |
| GPU | Apple 5-core GPU Hardware-accelerated Ray Tracing | Apple 6-core GPU Hardware-accelerated Ray Tracing |
| Memory Support | LPDDR5, up to 7500 MT/s | LPDDR5, up to 7500 MT/s |
| Neural Engine | 16-core Neural Engine; 35 TOPS | 16-core Neural Engine; 35 TOPS |
| Connectivity | Snapdragon X75 5G modem (likely) – Up to 10 Gbps Peak Download – Up to 3.5 Gbps Peak Upload Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3 | Snapdragon X75 5G modem (likely) – Up to 10 Gbps Peak Download – Up to 3.5 Gbps Peak Upload Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3 |
Now you know that the A18 Pro is slightly more powerful than the A18, especially in graphics performance. Both the chips are impressive, resulting in the impressive performance of the iPhone 16 series. This is the reason all models of iPhone 16 support AAA games.
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