We Don’t Want the A17 Chip on the iPhone 16

Two years ago, the iPhone 14 began what seemed to be a new trend of Apple using the same chip from the prior year’s iPhone Pro on the current year’s standard model. The iPhone 14 got the iPhone 13 Pro’s A15 Bionic chip and the iPhone 15 got the iPhone 14 Pro’s A16 while the iPhone 15 Pro moved on to a new A17 Pro.

This year we’d like to see Apple use the A18 chip on all the iPhone 16 models, which might actually happen.

Since it would be odd for Apple to use its A17 Pro — the first-ever “pro” chip for an iPhone — in its non-pro iPhone 16, we might see new A18 chips across the board instead. The iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Plus would have a base A18 chip while the iPhone Pro models would get the A18 Pro.

Rumor has it that Apple plans to use A18 chips on all the iPhone 16 models, so this might actually be true. Apple might also be forced to use a more advanced chip to power new AI features that are said to be coming in iOS 18.