In recent years, Apple has only introduced a new chip in its iPhone Pro models. But that changed yesterday when the entire iPhone 16 lineup received the brand new A18 lineup of chips. The iPhone 16 gets an A18 and the iPhone 16 Pro gets an A18 Pro. But what’s the real difference? Here’s the one thing the iPhone 16 is missing.

A18 vs. A18 Pro: Why two chips?

Apple’s A18 chip line is made possible by a second-generation 3-nanometer manufacturing process, similar to the process used for the M4 chip in the latest iPad Pro.

Reportedly, the manufacturing process of the previous A17 Pro and M3 chips was plagued with problems. This is the reason why the M4 came out so soon after the M3, and one of the reasons why Apple is not including last year’s A17 Pro in the entry-level iPhone 16.

But why are there still two different iPhone chips? What’s the difference between the A18 Pro and the A18?

It’s smaller than you think.

Here is an overview of the two chips:

A18 Pro Chip Specifications (via Apple)

• New 6-core CPU with 2 performance and 4 efficiency cores
• New 6‑core GPU
• New 16-core neural engine

A18 chip specifications (via Apple)

• New 6-core CPU with 2 performance and 4 efficiency cores
• New 5‑core GPU
• New 16-core neural engine

Did you notice the difference?

The A18 chip has one less GPU core. It only has five, compared to the six found in the A18 Pro.

If you buy an iPhone 16, will you miss that one GPU core? Almost certainly not.

Chip binning is likely to strike again

Most likely, it wasn’t really Apple’s intention to develop two different chips for the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro.

Instead, the company is likely engaging in chip binning. As our own Ben Lovejoy has already explained:

No chip manufacturing process is perfect, and the smaller the process gets, the greater the challenge of producing a perfect chip. When you’re working with nanometer precision, even the cleanest cleanrooms still contain microscopic contaminants. So companies often aim for a certain specification, then sort out the chips that don’t meet it and sell them as a lower-spec version. The chips are, in technical jargon, placed in another sorting bin.

In other words, although Apple doesn’t say it one way or the other, it’s very possible that all iPhone 16 models have the same chip. But if you separate the top-quality chips from the B-grade chips with flaws (like a less reliable GPU core), only the 16 Pro lineup gets the best version.

There are certainly good reasons to choose an iPhone 16 Pro instead of an iPhone 16.

But the A18 Pro chip shouldn’t be one of them for the vast majority of people.

Are you interested in the difference between A18 and A18 Pro? Let us know in the comments.