Plot Twist: iPhone 17 Might Get the A19 Chip After All
Credit: MG Bits / YouTube
Toggle Dark Mode
While analyst Jeff Pu has had some keen insights into Apple’s plans, he can’t seem to make up his mind on which chip Apple will use for the iPhone 17 this year.
In November, Pu shared a research note that seemingly confirmed what most of us were expecting: that Apple would move to a new generation of A19-series chips for its iPhone 17 lineup, just as it did with the A18 chips for the iPhone 16 family. Specifically, Pu predicted an A19 chip for the iPhone 17 and “iPhone 17 Air,” while the iPhone 17 Pro models would get a more powerful A19 Pro chip.
That lined up with what Apple’s playbook looked like. While the company had used prior-generation iPhone Pro chips for its standard iPhone models in 2022–23, those seemed like an aberration, especially when Apple unveiled the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro models with the same generation of A-series chips.
Before 2022, Apple had used virtually identical chips across each year’s iPhone lineup. The iPhone 13 Pro introduced a slight change with an A15 chip that featured one more GPU core than the one used in the iPhone 13, but Apple didn’t make any effort to highlight those differences at the time. It wasn’t until the current iPhone 16 family that it distinguished the higher-end chips by adding a “Pro” suffix.
However, Pu changed course in June, predicting that the entry-level iPhone 17 would not only get last year’s A18 chip, but that it wouldn’t even get the higher-end version. Unlike the iPhone 14 and iPhone 15, each of which used the “Pro” versions of their predecessors’ chips, Pu expected the iPhone 17 to use the same A18 chip as the iPhone 16, rather than the A18 Pro from the iPhone 16 Pro.
To make things even more twisty and unusual, Pu still believed that Apple planned to introduce a new A19 chip alongside a more powerful A19 Pro, but suggested that it would only be used in the so-called “iPhone 17 Air.”
That part made Pu’s claims somewhat dubious, as it seemed odd that Apple would go to the trouble of creating an A19 chip that would only be used in a single model that might not even be its best seller.
Now, Pu has backtracked to his November prediction, confirming that he once again expects the iPhone 17 to feature an upgraded A19 chip, alongside the “iPhone 17 Air.” The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max will still get improved A19 Pro chips, but that point has never been in dispute.
A More Powerful iPhone 17 Air?
While that sounds like a nice, neat plan, another leaker has thrown us a curveball with the claim that the A19 will be used only in the base iPhone 17 model. In a Weibo post, Fixed Focus Digital claims that the “iPhone 17 Air” will instead use an A19 Pro chip, although it will use a version scaled down to only five GPU cores, compared to six cores on the A19 Pro used in the iPhone 17 Pro models.
This sounds unusual, but the leaker may be confusing specifications with naming conventions. The current A18 used in the iPhone 16 has a five-core GPU (only the iPhone 16e version has one less core), so it’s likely the base A19 will have a similar configuration. That’s not to say that a five-core A19 Pro is out of the question, but it would muddy the waters a bit.
Leaving chip names aside, Fixed Focus Digital claims that the “iPhone 17 Air” will have 12 GB of RAM, matching the iPhone 17 Pro models, versus 8 GB on the iPhone 17. That might be where the idea that this will be an A19 Pro chip stems from, but it’s also worth noting that it contradicts both Pu’s latest statement and a July 2024 report from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who also predicted that only an A19 chip would be used in the new slim model.
It’s fair to say the “iPhone 17 Air” is a bit of a wildcard this year, but it still seems more likely that Apple will reserve its A19 Pro chips for its iPhone 17 Pro models. Apple’s new ultra-thin entry is expected to stand out primarily for its design, not its performance, and there’s no reason to believe Apple feels the need to soup it up to outpace the standard iPhone 17.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]
