- Apple introduces the A18 and A18 Pro chips, powering the iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, and 16 Pro Max.
- Both chips share a lot in common with last year’s A17 Pro, including the same 3nm process and 16-core Neural Engine.
- The A18 Pro boasts performance gains of 15–20% over the last generation, with similar power savings.
Apple introducing its latest iPhone hardware is always a big deal, and that’s especially true when we see the company change things up, and push its tech a little bit past expectations. Recently, that’s meant Apple splitting its smartphone lineup between two generations of the company’s silicon, with the iPhone Pro running the latest ship series, and the standard iPhone going with a component from the last gen. With today’s launch of the iPhone 16 family, Apple begins leveling that playing field, and shares the A18 and A18 Pro chips that will power all of the company’s latest phones.
Like the A17 Pro before it, the A18 is built on a 3nm process — giving it a head start over chips from Samsung and Google. Unfortunately, Apple seems to be going out of its way to avoid drawing direct comparisons to that generation of silicon, and instead highlights the A18’s gains relative to the A16 Bionic that powered the base iPhone 15. Compared to that chip, the company says to expect up to 40% faster performance, and power consumption that’s up to 35% lower.