Every year Apple announced new a new iPhone with a new chipset. Not this year so it seems. Because starting with the iPhone 14 wants to recycle the year-old Apple A15 Bionic processor according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. He expects only the iPhone 14 Pro to get the new A16.
The launch of the new Apple iPhone 14 and 14 Pro is still a long way off. But that doesn't mean Apple isn't working on it. According to the usually well-informed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, only the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max will get the new Apple A16 Bionic chip. The iPhone 14 and the "iPhone 14 Max" will get last year's A15.
Only two Pro models would upgrade to the A16 processor, while the 14 & 14 Max will remain the A15. All four new models will likely come with 6GB RAM, with the difference being LPDDR 5 (14 Pro & 14 Pro Max) vs. LPDDR 4X (14 & 14 Max). https://t.co/tHcszIz6gX
- ??? (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) March 13, 2022
First of all, let's talk about those names. 4 different models of which the iPhone mini is missing. Instead, Apple is introducing a entry level iPhone 14 of 6.1 inches and a larger iPhone 14 Max of 6.7 inches. Both feature 6GB of LPDDR4X type RAM memory and thus the Apple A15 Bionic. The same chip as in the entire iPhone 13 lineup.
Only iPhone Pro with A16 Bionic
In the Pro segment, we expect the iPhone 14 Pro of also 6.1 inches and a larger iPhone 14 Pro Max of 6.7 inches. According to Kuo, both models also get 6GB of RAM memory but the faster LPDDR5 and thus the latest Apple A16 Bionic.
There are several reasons why Apple is switching to this strategy. Perhaps it wants to make more distinction between the regular iPhone and the Pro models. Perhaps the chip shortage has something to do with it. For now we don't know.
Conservative
Apple is known for its somewhat conservative release of new iPhone models. It is very careful to introduce new technologies like OLED displays, high refresh rates, periscope lenses and fast charging. It also prone to use the same design for many years such as the recently announced iPhone SE 3 which uses the same iPhone 8 design from 2017.
Using a year-old processor fits right into that strategy. It feeds to the critics who accuse Apple of "lazy behavior" when releasing new products. Nevertheless, Apple has nothing to fear because even the Apple A15 Bionic processor scores better than the best processors of the competition.
