What you need to know
- Apple is again rumored to be giving the new iPhone 14 base models last year's chip.
- iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Max are expected to use A15 Bionic chips.
- The new iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are likely to benefit from speedier A16 chips.
Apple is strongly expected to announce its iPhone 14 lineup this fall and a new report adds fuel to existing expectations that at least two of the new handsets won't get a speed boost.
Writing in the weekly Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman again reiterated previous reports by Ming-Chi Kuo that the base iPhone 14 models won't get A16 chips and will instead rely on iPhone 13 A15 Bionic parts instead.
Gurman believes that Apple will hold the A16 chips back for its more costly iPhones, leaving those buying iPhone 14 Pro handsets to make do with last year's silicon.
This year, for the first time since Apple starting designing its own processors, the company won't be upgrading the chip inside of its main new iPhone. This fall's entry-level iPhone 14 models will retain the A15 chip from last year, with only the Pro version getting a new A16 processor.
As Gurman notes, this move would mark the first time that Apple has split its new iPhone announcements across two different chips. However, the move makes more sense than it doesn't. Apple tends to use chips to provide features and with only the Pro models expected to benefit from a new 48-megapixel camera, it's possible only those devices require the extra processing power afforded by a new chip.
If all goes according to plan that new camera and A16 chip will make iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max the best iPhones ever created for those who take a ton of photos. That, coupled with new iOS 16 Home Screen widgets and an always-on display will likely make the Pro models the way to go this year — assuming price isn't a factor, of course. If it is, or you're not desperate to have Apple's latest and greatest, then these upcoming Prime Day iPhone deals might be a more suitable option for you.
Apple is expected to announce all four new iPhones in or around September, with new Apple Watch and other hardware also likely to be outed before the year draws to a close.
