3nm A18 for all? Why a single chip for all iPhone 16 models is a great decision by Apple

3nm A18 for all? Why a single chip for all iPhone 16 models is a great decision by Apple،

Last week brought us the good news: next year, Apple will no longer offer vanilla iPhone models with last year's Pro processor. Kind of.

At the launch of the iPhone 14 series, customers were perplexed by Apple's decision to equip the 14 Pro with the all-new A16 Bionic chipset, while the vanilla model iPhone14 came onto the scene with last year's A15 Bionic, which was originally used by the iPhone 13 Pro. This year, the iPhone 15 Pro made history with the first 3nm A17 Pro chip, which was expected to bring dramatic performance gains, especially to the GPU. However, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus came with the 14 Pro's 4nm A16 Bionic.

I think this approach was problematic on several fronts, but fortunately, early leaks indicate that this fragmentation (that's the F-word again!) is about to be reduced when the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro launch in late 2024 Reduced, but probably not entirely. eliminated.

In short, both the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro are said to feature cutting-edge 3nm A18 chipsets. Great! However, that of iPhone16 and 16 Plus could still be a little more casual, as rumors point to a 3nm A18 Pro for the 16 Pro and a 3nm A18 Bionic for the 16. Although one could be dubbed Pro and the other Bionic, the difference might be somewhat negligible – closer to the A15 Bionic in the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13, where the Pro variant featured an additional GPU core for slightly faster graphics performance.

The main news here is that both A18 processors will be manufactured on the all-new 3nm N3E process, so there shouldn't be much difference in performance and efficiency between the A18 Pro and the A18 Bionic. Of course, that's if Apple doesn't come up with new ways to differentiate.

iPhone 16's A18 chip means less fragmentation

Remember how Apple played the fragmentation card every time it wanted to denigrate Android? Well, this recent trend of releasing sibling iPhone models with different SoCs and other hardware capabilities makes us wonder if we are not in a period of fragmentation, but this time in Apple's backyard.

Not only is Apple's iPhone lineup now split into 4 distinct models (not including the SE), but having different performance and camera features has made things even more complex. If this differentiation goes further, Apple could find itself in a delicate situation.

For starters, increased iPhone model differentiation (ahem, fragmentation) could make it difficult for consumers to choose the model that's best for them. And it is not excluded that forcing users to all this exercise of exploration, comparison of functionalities, specifications, models, etc. can expose them to alternative products on the market. I don't know if this would be a result that Apple would benefit from.

But having to maintain increasingly different hardware models would also make things difficult for Apple. Every little difference should be considered when developing new iOS software or maintaining current software. Let's not forget that tightly integrated hardware and software have always been Apple's greatest advantage. As the hardware portfolio diversifies, this strength will naturally be compromised.

Developers will also have to put in extra hours to ensure their software is optimized for the many different iPhone models, which could reduce resources that could be devoted to design work or developing new features, for example.

And, perhaps most obvious, but having less differentiation between iPhone models naturally means a more consistent user experience, which is generally a good thing. Because, if this fragmentation continues, it would not be unthinkable to have applications that work on Pro iPhones, but which are not supported on vanilla iPhones.

Such a result would definitely be zero. We're already seeing a fragment of such a reality, with desktop games like Resident Evil Village only being supported on iPhone 15 Probut not the iPhone15.

There is a fine line between universal fragmentation and unproductive fragmentation, but current rumors that iPhone16 The lineup will all ship with 3nm N3E A18 chips, so even though they're slightly different, it makes me cautiously optimistic that Apple has it under control for now.