- Kyle Chua
Apple’s New A16 Chip, Cutout Design Could Be Exclusive to iPhone 14 Pro Models
We’re still months away from the launch of Apple’s new iPhones, but analysts are already speculating about the features that’ll be included in this year’s lineup, the latest of which claims that only the Pro models will come with a new chipset.
If renowned Apple analyst and insider Ming-Chi Kuo is to be believed, the Cupertino company is set to debut the new A16 chipset this year with the iPhone 14 series, but it’ll only be carried by the higher-end models, the Pro and the Pro Max. The standard iPhone 14 and the iPhone 14 Max will have the same A15 chipset from last year’s iPhone 13 models.
He added that the entire iPhone 14 lineup would ship with 6GB of RAM. The only difference is that the Pro models will come with the faster and more power-efficient LPDDR5 memory configuration, while the base models will come with LPDDR4X.
The A16 Bionic chipset will reportedly be based on a 4nm process, making it more capable than the A15, which is based on a 5nm process. The general rule is that the lesser the physical footprint, the better the performance. As to how the A16 will compare to the A15, when it comes to benchmarks and numbers, of course, that has yet to be seen.
Kuo also mentions the screen sizes of the four iPhone 14 models. Interestingly, this year’s lineup won’t include a Mini model. Instead, there’ll be a Max version of the base model with the same screen size as its more expensive sibling.
Another rumour that’s been floating around for a while is that Apple will be dropping the divisive notch in favour of a new design that combines a pill-shaped cutout with a hole punch. The former will house the Face ID while the latter will house the selfie camera. Similar to the chipset, the new design will be exclusive to the Pro models, as display analyst Ross Young noted. He adds that Apple might expand the design to the base models starting with the iPhone 15 in 2023.
Apple has yet to make the iPhone 14 official, given how the launch is still quite a ways off at this point. But we’ll likely hear more about it in the coming months leading up to the usual fall release window.
Apple is expected to debut the new A16 chipset based on the 4nm process this year on the iPhone 14. However, it'll be exclusive to the higher-end Pro models, claims analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
The base iPhone 14 and the rumoured iPhone 14 Max will retain the A15 chipset of last year's iPhone 13 lineup.
The new notch-less design, which combines a pill-shaped cutout with a hole punch, will also be exclusive to the Pro and Pro Max models.