According to PhoneArena , a recent report said that Apple is estimated to sell 90 million to 100 million units of the upcoming iPhone 16.

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Apple is expected to sell 90 million to 100 million units of the upcoming iPhone 16. Photo: PhoneArena

As a result, the world's leading contract foundry, TSMC, is expected to produce 100 million A18 chips. There will be two different variants of the A18 chip. Both variants will be manufactured using TSMC's second-generation 3nm (N3E) process.

The A18 processor will power the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus while the A18 Pro will power the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Apple will make some design changes between the A18 and A18 Pro to make the latter chip more powerful than the former. Since all four iPhone 16 models will support Apple Intelligence, the entire new iPhone lineup will be equipped with 8GB of RAM.

Last month, TF International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that to support Apple Intelligence, an iPhone must have at least 8GB of RAM.

According to Kuo, this is why the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, both with 8GB of RAM, will be older iPhones that can work with Apple Intelligence, while the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will not. The standard iPhone models in 2023 will only be equipped with 6GB of RAM.

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Two new chips will equip the iPhone 16 series. Photo: PhoneArena

With the A18 and A18 Pro, it has been rumored that these chips will have larger die sizes to accommodate a larger Neural Engine for AI capabilities.

Additionally, the report also mentions that the GPU on the A18 and A18 Pro may continue to have the same six-core configuration as the A17 Pro, which could limit any improvements in graphics performance.

While Apple forecasts demand for up to 100 million iPhone 16s, Kuo said earlier this year that Apple won't launch new iPhone models with significant design changes and a comprehensive GenAI ecosystem/application until 2025.

Otherwise, it could hurt Apple's ecosystem momentum and iPhone sales.

The iPhone 16 series is expected to be launched by Apple next September. The new AI features - Apple Intelligence, which Apple just introduced at WWDC 2024, are expected to be the focus of attention for not only the iPhone 16 Pro models but also the standard iPhone 16.