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The top-line models in the iPhone 16 range feature the new Apple A18 Pro Chip. The tech giant claims the upgraded chip will offer the best CPU in a smartphone — a 16-core neural engine optimized for on-device AI processing.
Based on first impressions, the A18 Pro appears to be a slam-dunk success for Apple, especially for users interested in experimenting with Apple Intelligence and other AI-driven capabilities or mobile gaming.
We break down everything we know about the Apple A18 Pro Chip, including the release date and the top A18 Pro features specs you should know about.
What is A18 Pro?
Apple’s next-gen 3-nanometer mobile chipset with 6-core GPU
The Apple A18 Pro Chip is a new high-speed chip that launches with the iPhone 16 series — specifically the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max devices. The base version of the iPhone 16 will feature an A18 chip with a 5-core GPU.
The chip features a 6-core CPU, including two performance and four efficiency cores, a 5-core GPU, and a 16-core neural engine. It is worth highlighting that it has one more GPU core than the iPhone 15’s A16 bionic chip and the base A18 chip.
This chip is specifically designed to support on-device artificial intelligence and machine learning features. It also underpins the iPhone’s Always-On Display and ProMotion displays (allowing for 120 Hz refresh rate on the iPhone 16 Pro), faster USB 3 speeds, and ProRes video recording.
Apple’s A18 Pro chip is 20% faster than A17 Pro, offering 4.05 GHz in clock speed compared to 3.8 GHz. This means the user experience should be noticeably superior when using AI-driven applications or playing mobile games.
Apple A18 Pro Chip Release Date
Release Date: September 20, 2024
The Apple A18 Pro chip’s release date is Friday, September 20th — the same as the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro.
The base version of the iPhone 16 features an A18 chip with a 5-core GPU, whereas the iPhone 16 Pro will feature an A18 Pro Chip with a 6-core GPU.
It’s worth noting that you can preorder the iPhone 16 Pro with the A18 Pro on the official website starting at $999. So this is the minimum Apple 18 Pro chip price you can expect to pay for the upgrade.
Apple A18 Pro Chip Features
Apple users can expect quicker app launches, better gaming performance, smoother multitasking, driven by the following features:
- Better On-Device AI Processing
One of the big selling points of the Apple A18 pro chip is that it supports better on-device AI processing with the ability to run larger generative AI models locally, with better performance.
- Fastest Smartphone CPU
Apple’s A18 Pro also offers the fastest CPU in any smartphone, roughly 20% faster than the A17 Pro chip, and a better user experience overall.
- Power Efficiency
The chip also provides more power efficiency than previous models. For instance, it consumes 30% less power than the A16 Bionic chip and 20% less power than the A17 Pro chip while offering the same performance.
- Improved GPU
In addition, the new chip also offers significant GPU improvements, able to outperform the A17 Pro chip by as much as 20% while performing ray tracing twice as fast.
- Enhanced Camera Performance
The A18 Pro also features a new image processing unit that improves the performance of the camera, offering better data processing for video encoding with 2x faster speeds than the A17 Pro chip.
- Advanced Media Support
A18 Pro users will also benefit from its support for advanced media. This includes support for always-on and ProMotion displays, faster USB 3 speeds, and ProRes video recording.
Apple A18 Pro Chip Specs
- 16-Core Neural Engine
Apple’s A18 Pro Chip comes with a 16-core Neural Engine, which is 2x faster than the one included with the A16 Bionic. This means it can run larger large language models (LLMs) more efficiently.
- 6-core CPU
The A18 Pro chip also features a 6-core CPU with four performance cores and two efficiency cores. This enables it to offer the user 4.04 GHz in clock speed, which is 20% faster than the A17 Pro.
- Next-generation ML Accelerators
This series of chips also comes with next-generation ML accelerators that have been optimized to support Apple intelligence. These handle high-efficiency, high-throughput, and low-latency computations on the CPU without needing to engage the neural engine.
A18 Pro vs A18: Specs Comparison
| Specifications | Apple A18 Pro Chip | Apple A18 Chip |
| Architecture | 2x 4.04 GHz – 4x 2.2 GHz | 2 x 3.78 GHz – 4x 2 GHz |
| Cores | 6 | 6 |
| Frequency | 4040 MHz | 3780 MHz |
| Instruction set | ARMv9.2-A | ARMv9.2-A |
| Process | 3 nanometers | 3 nanometers |
| GPU Frequency | 1450 MHz | 1398 MHz |
| Memory Type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5X |
| Memory Frequency | 7500 MHz | 7500 MHz |
A18 Pro Chip vs Apple 17 Pro: Specs Comparison
| Specs | Apple A18 Pro Chip | Apple 17 Pro |
| Architecture | 2 x 4.04 GHz – 4x 2.2 GHz | 2 x 3.78 GHz – 4x 2.11 GHz |
| Cores | 6 | 6 |
| Frequency | 4040 MHz | 3780 MHz |
| Instruction set | ARMv9.2-A | ARMv8.6-A |
| Process | 3 nanometers | 3 nanometers |
| GPU Frequency | 1450 MHz | 1398 MHz |
| Memory Type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5 |
| Memory Frequency | 7500 MHz | 3200 MHz |
A18 Pro Chip Debut Models
Apple has confirmed that the Apple 18 Pro chip will be making its debut in the highly anticipated iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max models on September 20, 2024.
The iPhone 16 Pro will be available for purchase from $999 upward, while the iPhone Pro Max will be available from $1199.
The Bottom Line
The Apple A18 Pro chip offers some significant performance improvements over its predecessor, but really the true beneficiaries of these enhancements will be users who are experimenting with on-device AI or playing mobile games.
Outside of these use cases the performance improvements will likely be almost imperceptible compared to the iPhone 15. After all, who’s going to notice if an app opens a fraction of a second faster?
