The iPhone 14 Pro might not be the leap forward in technology that devotees had hoped for.


The A16 Bionic processor scheduled to power the future Pro variants of the iPhone 14 will keep the same 5nm manufacturing process as the A15, rather than shifting to 4nm, according to leaker ShrimpApplePro(opens in new tab). In other words, it will have the same number of transistors per silicon slice as the previous three iPhone models.


This is noteworthy since it contradicts earlier supply chain rumors, and while ShrimpApplePro describes the source as "pretty reputable," it should still be taken "with a grain of MSG."




If this is right, the new iPhone 14 Pro's generational performance gain will be confined to "slightly improved" CPU, GPU, and RAM performance.


ShrimpApplePro agrees with analyst Ming-Chi Kuo that the A16 will have LPDDR 5 memory, which is up to 1.5 times quicker and uses 30% less power than the LPDDR 4X memory used in the A15.


While these enhancements are obviously welcome, the true winner here may be the plain iPhone 14, which is expected to retain the A15 processor from last year's handsets. If the performance boost isn't that significant, consumers may not have much to lose by going with the less expensive option this year. They won't even have to forego the big-screen experience, since Apple is rumored to be replacing the small with an iPhone 14 Max (though they may have to wait for it).


Furthermore, ShrimpApplePro's source has some information on the Apple Silicon computer chip series. To begin with, the M2 processor will move straight to 3nm, implying that Apple would forego 4nm totally in its laptops and desktops.


But, according to the leaker, the M1 processor may enjoy one more hurrah with modified cores before then. This new model will contain energy-efficient "Blizard" cores combined with high-performance "Avalanche" ones, similar to the vanilla M1 and its Pro, Max, and Ultra variations.

It's unclear if this is the most powerful processor of them all, slated for the future Mac Pro, or simply a variation on the original M1 for the MacBook Air 2022.