For the past several years, Apple has typically introduced a new chip only in its iPhone Pro models. But that changed yesterday, as the entire iPhone 16 lineup now features the brand new A18 line of chips. The iPhone 16 gets an A18, while the iPhone 16 Pro is equipped with an A18 Pro. However, what exactly is the difference between these two chips? Here’s what you need to know.
The A18 chip line is enabled by a second-generation 3-nanometer fabrication process, which is similar to what was seen with the M4 chip in the most recent iPad Pro. It’s reported that the manufacturing process for the previous A17 Pro and M3 chips was fraught with issues. This is likely the reason why the M4 debuted as quickly as it did after the M3, and also part of the explanation for why Apple didn’t include last year’s A17 Pro inside the entry model iPhone 16.
So, why are there still two separate iPhone chips? What differentiates the A18 Pro from the A18? The answer might surprise you.
When comparing the specs of the two chips, it becomes apparent that the A18 chip has one fewer GPU core. It only has five GPU cores, as opposed to the six included in the A18 Pro.
Now, you might be wondering if this one GPU core difference will be noticeable to the average user. The truth is, for the vast majority of people, the answer is probably not. In most day-to-day tasks and normal usage scenarios, the impact of this minor GPU core reduction is likely to be negligible.
Most likely, Apple didn’t intentionally create two distinct chips for the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro. Instead, it’s quite possible that the company is engaged in chip binning. As Ben Lovejoy, one of our own experts, has explained, no chip fabrication process is perfect, and as the process gets smaller, the challenges of producing a perfect chip increase. When working at nanometer levels of precision, even the cleanest of clean rooms will still contain some microscopic elements of contamination. So, what companies often do is aim for a particular specification, and then sort out those chips that don’t meet the mark and sell them as a lower-spec version. In other words, the chips are placed in different sorting bins.
In other words, although Apple doesn’t explicitly say one way or the other, it’s very likely that all iPhone 16 models have the same chip at their core. However, when separating out the highest quality chips from those produced with flaws (such as a less reliable GPU core), only the 16 Pro line gets the best version.
There are certainly good reasons to choose an iPhone 16 Pro over an iPhone 16. The A18 Pro chip, for the most part, shouldn’t be one of them.
Do you care about the difference between the A18 and A18 Pro? Let us know in the comments.
