The Wall Street Journal’s Tim Higgins reports that the lower-end iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus models will be equipped with a “enhanced version” of the A15 Bionic chip, just two days before Apple unveils the iPhone 14 lineup.
The report does not go into further detail about the chip, but it has been speculated that the standard iPhone 14 models will be outfitted with the iPhone 13 Pro’s higher-end A15 chip with a five-core GPU for up to 25% faster graphics performance. The A15 chip in the standard iPhone 13 models has a four-core GPU.
The A15 chip in the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus is likely to have only improved graphics performance, as it has the same 6-core CPU and 16-core Neural Engine as the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro.
According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s information from March, only the iPhone 14 Pro models will be upgraded with Apple’s latest A16 chip for faster CPU performance. This would be the first time Apple restricts its latest chip to Pro models as part of an annual refresh of its flagship iPhone lineup, resulting in even more differentiation between standard and Pro models.
On Wednesday, Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max at a special event at Steve Jobs Theater. Many new features, including an always-on display with a new pill-shaped notch replacement, an upgraded 48-megapixel Wide lens, faster RAM, and more, are expected for the Pro models.
