According to analyst Jeff Pu, who covers companies in Apple’s supply chain, all four iPhone 16 models will be equipped with A18 branded chips.

In a research note this week from investment firm Haitong International Securities, MacRumors“We view the A17 Pro as a transitional design and now expect all iPhone 16 models to feature the A18 on TSMC’s N3E,” Pu said.

In response to our email, Pu explained his expectations as follows:

• iPhone 16: chip A18 (N3E)
• iPhone 16 Plus: chip A18 (N3E)
• iPhone 16 Pro: chip A18 Pro (N3E)
• iPhone 16 Pro Maximum: chip A18 Pro (N3E)

Considering that the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are equipped with the A16 Bionic chip, the switch to the A18 chip for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus will be notable.

N3E refers to TSMC’s second-generation 3nm chip manufacturing process, which is cheaper and has better performance compared to N3B, the first-generation 3nm process used for the A17 Pro chip in the iPhone 15 Pro models.

With the iPhone 16 series about a year away, Pu is likely making an educated guess about marketing names, so time will tell if Apple will actually move forward with the A18 and A18 Pro branding. It’s still possible for Apple to brand the iPhone 16 chips as A17 and A18 Pro to reflect recent years.

Pu was the first source to report that Apple has abandoned plans for solid-state buttons on the iPhone 15 Pro models. He also confirmed that the iPhone 15 Pro models will be equipped with increased 8 GB RAM and that the iPhone 15 Pro Max will have a higher starting price than the iPhone 14 Pro Max.