iPhone 16 Lineup to Feature Same A18 Chip, Leaked Backend Code Indicates
Backend code discovered by "Nicolas Alvarez" and shared with MacRumors suggests that all upcoming iPhone 16 models will have the same A18 processor.
The leaked code suggests that the various upcoming iPhone 16 models (Plus, Pro, Pro Max, etc) will have the same internal processor across the board. In previous releases, the higher end models featured more powerful chips than the base ones.
Nicolas Alvarez came across the code, specifically, the identifiers that will be used for the iPhone 16 models, of which there are 5. These identifiers are tied to the chip used in each model.
Leaked Identifiers
iPhone17,1
iPhone17,2
iPhone17,3
iPhone17,4
iPhone17,5
The part we are concerned about is the number 17, this is the number that indicates which model has which processor, in previous generations these were not all the same.
For example, the iPhone 15 base model had the identifier “iPhone15,4“ while the iPhone 15 Pro Max had the identifier “iPhone16,2“ because they have the A16 Bionic and A17 Pro Chip respectively.
Assuming Apple maintains the same identifier scheme they’ve been using for years, then we can confidently say that the 16 will indeed have the same processor across the board.
There are a few caveats to cover, for one this doesn't mean that all iPhone 16 models will have the same processing power. The chips in the lower end models could have some of their cores disabled to differentiate between the base and pro models; they could also have different clock speeds, memory bandwidth, or memory size. These are all factors that can have an impact on overall performance. We won’t know for certain until the devices are officially unveiled and synthetic benchmarks are performed on them.
However, I think we can say with a high degree of confidence that all models will be well tuned to run the on-device part of Apple Intelligence without major differences in performance across the various models; this is especially true given that Apple Intelligence is most likely a corner stone of the sales pitch Apple will make to their customers to convince them to buy the 16.
Source - https://www.macrumors.com/2024/07/02/apple-increases-a18-chip-orders-iphone-16/