It is confirmed, the A18 Pro processor of the future iPhone 16 Pro would be designed specifically to carry the AI functionalities expected on Apple’s next smartphones. In this area, the chip would evolve a lot compared to the current A17 Pro.
A few months behind its competitor Samsung, Apple is moving significantly towards AI with its new generation of iPhone. To support the features based on artificial intelligence expected with iOS 18, Apple would unsurprisingly step up its game on the hardware level… notably through its future A18 Pro processor.
Expected on the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max, this new generation SoC would indeed rely on an architecture much more adapted to AI than that of the current A17 Pro chip. A track which had already been mentioned by certain sources, and which is gaining a little more depth this week. In a note addressed to clients of the Haitong International firm, for which he works, analyst Jeff Pu insisted on the progress that Apple would make this year with regard to supporting AI.
The Apple A18 Pro: a crack in AI?
“ Our observations of the supply chain allow us to see increasing demand for the Apple A18, while production volume for the A17 Pro has stabilized since February », begins by explaining Jeff Pu, thus confirming that the production of chips dedicated to the iPhone 16 Pro is gradually gaining in volume. “We note that Apple’s A18 Pro, with a 6-core GPU, will have a larger die (compared to the A17 Pro), which could be a trend aimed at artificial intelligence computing peak», he continues.
This size ofdiemore important for the A18 Pro is a good sign. This means that the chip will be larger to accommodate more transistors… or to accommodate specialized components. In this case, it is rather this second avenue that should be retained.
Apple would logically count on a larger NPU than before, capable of being more agile and more efficient to calculate generative AI locally (directly on the iPhone and not in the Cloud), for example. Jeff Pu’s observations also echo previous leaks indicating that the A18 Pro “would significantly increase its number of integrated AI computing cores“.
As a reminder, the A18 Pro will in any case be engraved in 3 nm by TSMC. A fine engraving which would also be used as much for this “Pro” chip as for the “classic” A18 processors of the iPhone 16. Finally, note that Apple should tell us more about its projects concerning AI on iOS, 18 during its WWDC 2024, expected next June.