iPhone 16′s beautiful design is joined by powerful performance inside. Every experience on iPhone is powered by Apple Silicon. With industry leading processing power and efficiency, Apple Silicon is at the heart of new capabilities starting with Apple Intelligence.
Running powerful experiences like Apple Intelligence on device needs a chip with substantial high performance compute. It needs memory to store large models and bandwidth to access them quickly. And of course, phenomenal energy efficiency. So Apple has brought their latest breakthroughs and jumping two generations ahead from A16 Bionic in iPhone 15 to A18, their brand new chip created specifically for iPhone 16.
A18 features an upgraded 16 core neural engine that is optimized for running large generative models. This neural engine is up to two times faster for machine learning. And it’s not just a neural engine. Apple has has also upgraded A18’s memory subsystem, including 17% more system memory bandwidth. This is critical to give the chip the fastest, most efficient access to Apple’s generative models, as well as drive the performance of Apple Intelligence.
A18 is built using second generation three nanometer technology. This three nanometer technology has even smaller transistors that are faster and more energy efficient.
A18 has the latest generation six core CPU with two performance cores and four efficiency cores. These are critical as they’re used in nearly every experience on iPhone, including Apple Intelligence. It is up to 30% faster than the CPU in iPhone 15 and up to 60% faster than the CPU in iPhone 12. And thanks to Apple’s design and the latest transistors, the CPU is more energy efficient than A16 Bionic and can deliver the same performance using 30% less power. This CPU is faster than all the competition, challenging even high-end desktop PCs.
A18 also features Apple’s latest desktop class GPU architecture. This new five core GPU plays a huge role in everything from Apple Intelligence to camera features and graphics intense games. It is up to 40% faster than the GPU in iPhone 15 and up to two times faster than the GPU in iPhone 12. The GPU is also more efficient than A16, delivering the same performance using 35% less power.
A18 is in a class of its own, built with Apple’s latest silicon innovations to power experiences like Apple Intelligence on iPhone 16.
A18 drives camera and Apple Intelligence features. Apple’s amazing silicon also benefits world-class gaming. Apple pair the powerful performance and efficiency of A18 with new system optimizations, including a thermal design. Apple updated the main logic board, centralizing the chip placement, and optimizing the surrounding architecture. Apple also added a thermal substructure to dissipate heat, made from 100% recycled aluminum. As a result, iPhone 16 delivers up to 30% higher sustained performance for gaming.
A18 also supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing. This is used by games such as War Thunder Mobile to more accurately represent the reflection of the sun on the water. Hardware acceleration can run ray tracing at up to five times higher frame rates than with software-based ray tracing, allowing A18 to run these graphics smoothly. Ray tracing is used to create realistic shadows and reflections. These techniques aren’t possible to run in real time without hardware acceleration. iPhone 16 will also support the AAA games that were previously only available for iPhone 15 Pro, like Resident Evil 7 Biohazard that launched earlier this year and Assassin’s Creed Mirage. They run great on iPhone and work seamlessly with controllers. Apple introduced the next generation leading game from Tencent, Honor of Kings World. This is the latest installment into this massive franchise that boasts hundreds of millions of players worldwide and is one of the most popular games in the world. Players will be amazed by the ultra graphics mode optimized for iPhone 16. It offers an unparalleled visual experience with higher resolution, advanced lighting effects, powerful global illumination technology, and expanded viewing distance. iPhone 16 will provide the ultimate mobile experience for Honor of Kings World, elevating gaming on a smartphone to new heights. Get ready for an incredible journey in Honor of Kings World coming to iPhone next year.
These join other console-level games for iPhone that take mobile gaming to the next level. Powerful workloads like gaming and Apple intelligence demand great battery life. So Apple gave iPhone 16 an even bigger battery, which together with the energy efficiency of A18 and the advanced power management of iOS 18 delivers a big boost in battery life.