Apple’s latest iPhones, the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, are powered by the company’s cutting-edge A18 Pro chip. A detailed look at the die size reveals that the A18 Pro boasts a larger footprint than its non-Pro counterpart, the A18, measuring in at 105mm2 compared to 90mm2. This added space allows Apple to incorporate a larger SLC cache and an additional GPU core, contributing to a significant performance advantage.
The increased die size of the A18 Pro, compared to its predecessor, the A17 Pro, is noteworthy. While the A17 Pro (found in the iPhone 15 Pro models) was larger than the A18, it was still smaller than the A18 Pro at 103.8mm2. This trend suggests that Apple is pushing the boundaries of mobile silicon performance with its Pro models.
Apple has remained tight-lipped about the exact transistor count within its A-series chips, but we do know that both the A18 Pro and A18 are manufactured by TSMC using its N3E node. This fabrication process, while offering lower density than the N3B variant, still enables significant performance enhancements. The larger die size of the A18 Pro could be attributed to an increased transistor count compared to the A17 Pro, leveraging the advancements of the new 3nm process node at TSMC.
The new Apple A18 Pro has been lauded as the fastest mobile chip on the planet, a testament to Apple’s ongoing commitment to pushing the boundaries of mobile computing.
