Apple A18 and A18 Pro die shots confirm two different designs
Apple launched the A18 and A18 Pro right in time for the iPhone 16 series, and the Pro was said to have a more powerful GPU for intensive graphical tasks like augmented reality, 3D rendering and ray tracing.
Now shots of the actual chips were posted online, showcasing the platforms are quite different despite being built by TSMC on the same 3 nm process technology.
TSMC utilized the InFO-PoP (Integrated Fan-Out Package-on-Package) method, which stacks DRAM packages directly on top of the SoC die, incorporating high-density RDL (Redistribution Layers) along with TIV (Through InFO Via). That way, the overall chip size is reduced, ensuring strong thermal and electrical performance.
A deeper look into the die shot reveals the A18 Pro does have more transistors, which means more power for the Pro, allowing for better overall performance.
Apple was said to reserve all the TSMC 2 nm process technology capabilities for the A19 chips. However, analysts claimed Cupertino will only launch the iPhone 17 Pro duo with 2 nm chips because the Taiwanese maker is having issues with yields.