A new alleged shot of the die for Apple's A20 Pro chipset gives us our first look at the new chip, which should be built on the TSMC 2nm process. The new chip is expected to power both the iPhone 18 Pro and the rumored iPhone Ultra.
The leak comes from Weibo user "White rice fried white rice" (machine translated), who posted some images of the die and an analysis of how it might be laid out. Based on their reporting, it seems the chip has been significantly redesigned.
Here's what the new chip appears to feature:
- 7-core GPU vs 6 core on the A19 Pro
- 4 efficiency and 2 performance CPU cores
- 8MB L2 cache for efficiency cores vs 6MB on the A19
- 16MB L2 cache for performance cores (same as the A19 Pro)
- 96-bit LPDDR5X memory interface
What does that all mean? At its most basic level, the larger GPU and more cache memory should translate into faster gaming, graphics and overall performance on the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and iPhone Ultra. Plus, if the leak is accurate that 7-core GPU would be the largest ever used by Apple.
The leak is fairly speculative on the layout, as they apparently tried several before landing on one that was the "most reasonable."
The die does not have a labeled NPU or ISP block, important since the NPU will be responsible for AI features. Presumably, that will be bigger as well, which is likely why the CPU is shifted compared to the A19 Pro.
How does that the A20 Pro compare to Android phones?
Samsung, Apple's main rival, has been utilizing the powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 silicon. Both the Galaxy S26 Ultra and the foldable Galaxy Z Fold 8 are multitasking powerhouses thanks to Qualcomm's chip.
In our internal tests, both proved quite powerful and outperformed the iPhone 17 Pro Max with the A19 Pro chipset, especially in multicore testing and graphics benchmarks.
Phone |
3DMark Solar Bay Unlimited |
|---|---|
iPhone 17 Pro Max |
46.6/ 12,260 |
Galaxy S26 Ultra |
49.37/ 12,984 |
Galaxy Z Fold 8 |
47.35/ 12,454 |
Motorola Razr Fold |
35.12/ 9,413 |
Apple and Samsung trade performance as each new generation releases. Similarly, while the S26 Ultra and Z Fold 8 are currently front running, it's not by a significant ammount.
If the A20 Pro is as powerful as it seems, the iPhone 18 Pro Max and iPhone Ultra should equal or surpass what Samsung and Qualcomm are doing.
Both iPhones are expected to launch at the Apple event on Sept. 9 alongside at least seven other devices. Bookmark Tom's Guide as we'll be on hand to cover all the latest news.
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