Apple's A18 and A18 Pro processors powers the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro — and Apple Intelligence

News
By ,
published

The go-to chips for Apple Intelligence

Apple A18
(Image credit: Apple)

Apple's next iPhone chip is the A18, powering the new suite of smartphones and Apple's first lineup touting Apple Intelligence features, created specifically for the iPhone 16.

The new chip, based on TSMC's second-gen 3-nanometer technology, combines two performance cores, four efficiency cores, and a 16-core neural engine, which Apple says is twice as fast as previous chips for machine learning. It also boasts 17% more system memory bandwidth.

Apple compared the chip to the A16 Bionic, the chip in the previous non-Pro iPhones, as opposed to the A17 Pro. Apple says the new chip is 30% faster than the A16 Bionic.

Apple A18

(Image credit: Apple)

Apple says that the new 5-core GPU in the A18 is up to 40 percent faster than the GPU used in the A16 Bionic (used in the iPhone 15). This “desktop class” GPU also performs this feat while using 35% less power.

iPhone 16

(Image credit: Apple)

The company said that Apple can allow for 30% higher sustained performance for gaming than previous versions. The company showed illustrations of optimized motherboards and thermal substructures to allow for better heat dissipation. 

For gaming, the company again touted hardware-based ray tracing, including shadows and reflections, and shows Honor of Kings: World with an ultra graphics mode for iPhone 16. Some big games that required the iPhone 15 Pro's A17 Pro chip will work on the regular iPhone with A18.

Image 1 of 2
iPhone 16 motherboard and heat systems.
(Image credit: Apple)

The iPhone 16's biggest addition outside of Apple Intelligence feature is the Camera Capture button, which can add overlays that let you zoom, switch lenses, and use other options with haptic feedback. It can also work with Intelligence features to recognize objects and locations, add concert posters to your calendar, and send photos to ChatGPT.

iPhone 16 will start at $799, while the larger iPhone 16 Plus will begin at $899.

A18 Pro

A18 Pro

(Image credit: Apple)

Like the IPhone 16, the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max are get a the A18 Pro. It's also on a second-gen TSMC 3nm node. The system has a 16-core neural engine capable of 35 trillion operations per second and a 17% bump in memory bandwidth. 

Image 1 of 5
A18 Pro
(Image credit: Apple)

Like the A18, the A18 Pro has two performance cores and four efficiency cores. Apple claims this chip is 15% faster than the A17 Pro, and that it can deliver the same performance at 20% less power. Apple is also promising programmable next-gen machine learning accelerators, faster USB3 speeds and ProRes video recording. You can now capture 4K 120Hz video in HDR.

iPhone 16 Pro

(Image credit: Apple)

iPhone 16 Pro will start at $999 (128GB), while the Pro Max will begin at $1,199 (256GB). Pre-orders begin on Friday and will be available on September 20.

Brandon Hill
Brandon Hill

Brandon Hill is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware. He has written about PC and Mac tech since the late 1990s with bylines at AnandTech, DailyTech, and Hot Hardware. When he is not consuming copious amounts of tech news, he can be found enjoying the NC mountains or the beach with his wife and two sons.

6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • brandonjclark
    The RUMOR is that the iPhone 17 will have 16gb in the Pro versions, to better accommodate the Apple AI local processing.*

    {*next year}

    I'm just REALLY not sure if I wanna pull the trigger this Friday or wait it out ANOTHER year.

    *Current phone is 5 years old, looks like new, but the battery sucks and it's Android. I want to get out of this ecosystem and back to Apple.
    Reply
  • nitrium
    brandonjclark said:
    ...and it's Android. I want to get out of this ecosystem and back to Apple.
    Why though? The flexibility and ability to customise your experience however you like it alone is worth using Android. Add to that if Apple (or Google) decides to ban Twitter (or any other app) you can still install without the official store (iTunes or Google Play) and keep using it. And of course a far larger variety of hardware options.
    Reply
  • watzupken
    brandonjclark said:
    The RUMOR is that the iPhone 17 will have 16gb in the Pro versions, to better accommodate the Apple AI local processing.*

    {*next year}

    I'm just REALLY not sure if I wanna pull the trigger this Friday or wait it out ANOTHER year.

    *Current phone is 5 years old, looks like new, but the battery sucks and it's Android. I want to get out of this ecosystem and back to Apple.
    You really believe Apple will give their products a significant update in anything? Just look back the last 5 years and you will notice that they bring very incremental updates year on year to all their product lines. In 2024, they are still selling you Macs with 8GB of soldered RAM and 256GB of storage, while claiming it is not a problem at all. In their own words, 8GB on Mac is like 16GB on other OS/ platforms. May be you can get 16GB as an upgrade, but will cost a lot more.

    In your case, I do think it may be worth upgrading your phone since the battery is expected to be terrible now. But if you are getting the Pro/ Pro Max series and if the price is better on the older iPhone 15, I see little reason to get the iPhone 16 series.
    Reply
  • brandonjclark
    nitrium said:
    Why though? The flexibility and ability to customise your experience however you like it alone is worth using Android.

    As I've gotten older, the primary reasons I used to own Android have tapered off. I no longer look to spend any more time on my phone than I have to, and customizing it is not as important as it once was to me.
    Reply
  • brandonjclark
    watzupken said:
    You really believe Apple will give their products a significant update in anything? Just look back the last 5 years and you will notice that they bring very incremental updates year on year to all their product lines. In 2024, they are still selling you Macs with 8GB of soldered RAM and 256GB of storage, while claiming it is not a problem at all. In their own words, 8GB on Mac is like 16GB on other OS/ platforms. May be you can get 16GB as an upgrade, but will cost a lot more.

    In your case, I do think it may be worth upgrading your phone since the battery is expected to be terrible now. But if you are getting the Pro/ Pro Max series and if the price is better on the older iPhone 15, I see little reason to get the iPhone 16 series.
    I think it's likely the Pro version of the iPhone next year will have 16GB.
    Reply
  • skiwi44
    nitrium said:
    Why though? The flexibility and ability to customise your experience however you like it alone is worth using Android. Add to that if Apple (or Google) decides to ban Twitter (or any other app) you can still install without the official store (iTunes or Google Play) and keep using it. And of course a far larger variety of hardware options.
    Security for one.
    Meaningful updates, regardless of carrier, for 6 years is another.
    Reply