Apple will unveil the all-new iPhone 14 lineup this fall, which includes new features like an always-on display and improved camera hardware. What about the iPhone 14 chip? As it turns out, this year is going to be interesting. The chip of the iPhone 14 differs from the chip of the iPhone 14 Pro for the first time.
As a quick refresher, the iPhone 14 range is expected to consist of four different devices with two different screen sizes. The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro will feature a 6.1-inch display, while the iPhone 14 Max and iPhone 14 Pro Max will feature a 6.7-inch display.
This is the first time Apple has offered a non-Pro version of the iPhone with a 6.7-inch display. However, there will be some key differences between the iPhone 14 models and the iPhone 14 Pro models. This includes the chip inside.
The new iPhone 14 chip
Apple has traditionally updated the chip in the iPhone every year. For example, the iPhone 12 range was powered by the A14 chip, while the iPhone 13 range is powered by the A15 chip. That won’t be the case this year with the iPhone 14 chip.
According to trusted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Max chip won’t get an upgrade this year. This means these devices will retain the A15 processor currently found in the iPhone 13 lineup. 9to5Mac was able to confirm this independently.
However, the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max will see an updated processor. These two devices are expected to feature the new A16 chip. By differentiating the chip between the four iPhone 14 models, Apple is essentially giving customers an extra reason to choose the higher-end (and more expensive) iPhone 14 Pro models.
iPhone 14 chip performance
While we’re still waiting for real-world testing, Apple’s dinner TSMC roadmap shows that the A16 chip will be made using the same 5-nanometer process as the A15, which is also the same as the A14.
Sticking to the same build size limits year-over-year performance improvements, but that doesn’t mean we won’t see anything any improvements. From the A14 to the A15 chip, Apple has achieved ~10% performance and efficiency gains. It’s unclear if we’ll see similar bumps this year, but we wouldn’t expect completely flat year-over-year increases in performance.
Apple is expected to make a bigger leap from the iPhone 14 to the iPhone 15, but that won’t happen until 2023.
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