Apple is preparing three versions of the A20: one chip for the iPhone Air and two A20 Pro chips for the Pro and foldable iPhone

Next year will be a major milestone for Apple as the company plans to move to TSMC 2nm process technology, having received almost half of the first plates. But what is even more important is that iPhone 18 Series Debuts New SoC Strategy, already used in the iPhone 17 - with the A-series divided into three modifications.

This year Apple introduced A19, as well as two versions Pro A19. The A19 core chip is installed in iPhone Air, and the “full-fledged” A19 Pro are used in iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max. All three solutions are based on the same architecture - 6 core CPU (2 performance cores + 4 energy efficient), but differ in number of graphics cores: from 5 to 6. This practice binning GPU is used by Apple more and more often and, in all likelihood, will become the norm for A20 series in 2026.

The iPhone 18 lineup is expected to receive three different A20 chips. iPhone Air 2nd generation will be equipped with the usual A20 with 5-core GPU, iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, and also the first foldable iPhone, will receive A20 Pro with 6-core graphics. All versions will remain with the usual 6-core configuration. CPU.

It is also reported that the base iPhone 18 will be canceled, giving way Apple's first foldable smartphone. The new model will be positioned above the Air, but below the Pro. This approach allows Apple to vary the performance and cost of devices without creating new SoCs from scratch, but only limiting GPU-blocks within one crystal. This same strategy can later be adapted in M series for Mac, where signs of binning are already observed.