Apple’s A18, A18 Pro Rumored To Be Independent Dies With Reduced Cache Size, Both SoCs Said To Share Same CPU Cluster, But Varying GPU Cores

The iPhone 16 event ‘It’s Glowtime’ was announced by Apple yesterday, which only means that there will be an influx of rumors surrounding the company’s upcoming lineup before the official unveiling. The latest one revolves around the A18 and A18 Pro, with one tipster mentioning that both SoCs will feature independent dies and will have a reduced cache size to save space. Additionally, he notes that both chipsets will share the same CPU configuration, but the number of GPU cores will vary.

Standard A18 is said to feature a 5-core GPU, while the top-end A18 Pro is rumored to be treated to a 6-core GPU, like the previous-generation A17 Pro

The new information was provided by Weibo tipster Fixed focus digital, with the relevant screenshot posted by our friendly acquaintance @faridofanani96 on X. While a previous rumor stated that both the A18 and A18 Pro will feature a bigger cache to accommodate a larger Neural Engine to run on-device Apple Intelligence seamlessly, the latest one claims that chip area will be conserved by shrinking that cache size.

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Also, since both chipsets are said to be independent dies, it implies that Apple did not use any binning techniques for the A18 Pro, which is strange to hear, as almost every company employs this approach to save a ton of money. However, when he diverted our attention to the CPU and GPU core counts, it was mentioned that the A18 and A18 Pro would share the same ‘2 + 4’ cluster, with two performance and four power-efficiency cores.

It is unclear if these cores will share the same architecture or clock speeds, but that will be a comparison for another time. The difference between the two will be in the number of GPU cores, with the standard version said to feature five, while the one exclusive to the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be a 6-core part. To remind you,