One surprising little detail that popped up during the iPhone 15 introduction earlier this month was that the iPhone 15 Pro models sport an A17 Pro chip. That’s new branding for iPhone chips, which had used the Bionic name for years, but a new report claims it’s going to stick.
According to analyst Jeff Pu in a report by MacRumors, the 2024 iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max will, as expected, have A18 Pro chips. But Pu also says that Apple will use chips branded as “A18” in the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus models.
Pu’s reliability has been up and down, and MacRumors states that Pu is “likely making an educated guess” about the branding, which implies that Pu did not say that he based his information on inside sources. If this is Pu simply guessing, it does make logical sense–updating the chip branding for the non-pro phones creates more branding consistency from a marketing standpoint.
Previous rumors had suggested that the iPhone 16 would have a modified version of the A17 Pro chip.
Currently, Apple introduced the new chip in the Pro models and uses the previous year’s chip in the non-pro iPhones–A17 Pro in the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, and last year’s A16 Bionic in the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. It’s somewhat confusing to have different numbering systems, so changing the name from A17 Pro to A18 makes sense. Plus it would align the iPhone chips with the Mac chips, which are branded as M2 and M2 Pro, Max, and Ultra.
iPhone 16 is the next iPhone to arrive in September 2024, and will be followed in 2025 by the iPhone 17 and iPhone SE 4. The new iPhone will arrive at a September launch event – find out how to watch the Apple September event live stream. For iPhone SE 4 and other new Apple products, see when is the next Apple event. You might also like our iPhone buying guide, best iPhone deals, and comparison of every iPhone that is available to buy today.
Author: Roman Loyola, Senior Editor, Macworld
Roman is a Macworld Senior Editor with over 30 years of experience covering the tech industry, focusing on the Mac and other products in the Apple ecosystem. He is also the host of the Macworld Podcast. His career started at MacUser, where he received Apple certification as a repair technician (when Apple did that kind of thing). He's also worked for MacAddict, MacLife, and TechTV.