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Apple A20 Pro powers iPhone Duo, 18 Pro — the company's first 2-nanometer smartphone chip CEO John Ternus takes the stage for the first time. Apple has a new top system-on-a-chip for smartphones, the A20 Pro. The new processor debuted at Apple's iPhone event today — the first event led by newly minted chief executive officer John Ternus — alongside a new in-house modem (the C2). The A20 Pro is Apple's first 2-nanometer chip in an iPhone. (Its first-ever 2 nm chip is the M6, which the company announced in August and which will debut in the Mac Mini later this month). Like the M6, the A20 features dual neural engines, new CPU and GPU cores. The A20 Pro will power the new foldable iPhone Duo, along with the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max. View Original View Original View Original View Original View Original View Original The new SOC boasts a 6-core CPU with two of the company's super-cores (20% faster than last generation), and there are also four efficiency cores with neural accelerators. Apple is calling this a "desktop-class" processor and the "fastest CPU in a smartphone." The 7-core GPU has a 40% boost gen-over-gen with increased bandwidth, along with new neural accelerators that the company says allows for twice-as-fast FP8 compute. The two neural engines have a combined 32 total cores. There's a 50% increase in memory bandwidth on the chip, which Apple says is the widest memory interface in an iPhone. Apple has also changed the packaging, with the silicon dies placed in a way that removes memory from the thermal path of the SOC, allowing the silicon to attach directly to the vapor chamber. That vapor chamber has a three times larger surface area over the 17 Pro, and also includes more graphite and copper along with 80% recycled stainless steel. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. The company claims that this will allow for up to 40% sustained performance over the iPhone 17 Pro and 2x sustained performance over the 16 Pro. Apple says that A20 Pro's efficiencies and new battery designs allow for better longevity. The company claims the Pro will get 36 hours of video playback, and 45 hours on Pro Max video. Using a proprietary test based on data from how people use their phones, Apple claims 24 hours per charge on the 18 Pro and 30 hours on the Pro Max. Beyond the SOC, Apple is also using a new C2 cellular modem, replacing Qualcomm. Apple claims that C2 "delivers meaningfully faster uploads when compared to C1X while consuming 15 percent less energy," and also adds mmWave support in the United States. Both phones also feature the N1 networking chip for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread. The iPhone 18 Pro will start at $1,199, while the Pro Max will start at $1,299. The phones will be available on September 18. The phones also feature an updated Dynamic Island and a 48-megapixel fusion camera with a variable aperture, plus customizable settings such as white balance and cinematic effects that can be added after capture. Apple's other new silicon was the S11, a chip for the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4. iPhone Duo The iPhone Duo, Apple's long-awaited foldable phone, will also use the A20 Pro. The foldable will be Apple's first phone with a FaceTime camera behind the display, and Apple detailed the hinge and aerospace-grade titanium construction. The Duo is IP68-rated for dust and water resistance. It comes in "star white," as well as "night sky" (a dark blue). The OS, iOS 27, will allow for docks and controls to live on the sides of the system, putting them near your hand. When opened, it's the thinnest iPhone ever and has the largest screen on an iPhone at 7.6 inches. Later this year, Apple Pencil will be supported on the Duo on both screens. Apple will use Touch ID for biometrics, jettisoning the Face ID from more recent slab-style phones. Apple said this is the best way to go because it's available whether open or closed, and you can enroll multiple fingers. The phone supports multiple "poses," including partial folds, and a standby mode when used in a tent-style pose — even when it's not charging. Apple's internal display has an anti-glare display to "minimize crease visibility," which the company also claims feels premium under your fingers, with a titanium plate supporting the panel, along with a hinge with over 100 components. Samsung also released a phone with a minimal crease in the Galaxy Z Fold 8 earlier this year, but we'll have to see how reviewers compare the two screens. A20 Pro has a new display engine that supports both displays. Like the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max, Apple is using the C2 cellular modem over Qualcomm's in the iPhone Duo. The iPhone Duo is eSIM-only everywhere in the world, maximizing battery space. Each side of the phone has its own battery, which operates as one with software. Apple is claiming up to 31 hours of video playback on the inner display and 44 hours on the outer display. Using its own model, Apple claims 24 hours when using "both screens equally." The phone has a two-camera system. The main camera is a 48MP lens with up to 2x telephoto, while the other is an ultrawide lens. The 48MP camera is the same one on the 18 Pro, though without the variable aperture. The center-stage camera on the front is a 12MP camera. The inner display has an under-screen FaceTime camera. The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 for 256GB, and goes up to 2TB. Pre-orders start on October 16, and the phone will launch on October 23. Andrew E. Freedman is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming. He also keeps up with the latest news. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Kotaku, PCMag and Complex, among others. Follow him on Threads @FreedmanAE and BlueSky @andrewfreedman.net. You can send him tips on Signal: andrewfreedman.01 - Brandon Hill Senior Editor - usertests https://wccftech.com/apple-a20-pro-leaked-specs-4-9ghz-cpu-7-core-gpu-m3-bandwidth/Reply This is a pre-announcement rumor article claiming: Performance cores run up to 4.9 GHz, efficiency cores up to 2.6 GHz 36 MiB of SLC cache (like L3 cache) 96-bit 12 GB LPDDR5X-9600The change to 96-bit has been talked about for a while. I think it was assumed to be LPDDR6 at first, but then updated to LPDDR5X (3 chips?), and then "confirmed" in this new rumor. The new Snapdragon chip announced later this month is expected to hit 5 GHz. That's a thing in smartphones now, at least on TSMC N2 nodes and for brief periods of time, or while charging. - usertests Reply None of the gritty details are specified by Apple or other news articles AFAIK, but Apple claims 50% higher memory bandwidth, and uses LPDDR5X-9600 with the A19 Pro. So simply adding another 32-bit chip for 96-bit does the job. Otherwise they'd need to be using 14400 MT/s memory, which is unlikely.usertests said:The change to 96-bit has been talked about for a while. I think it was assumed to be LPDDR6 at first, but then updated to LPDDR5X (3 chips?), and then "confirmed" in this new rumor. - thestryker Reply The biggest question here is whether it's custom packaging or a multiple chip configuration. Phones typically only have a single memory chip and LPDDR5X packages only go up to 64-bit.usertests said:So simply adding another 32-bit chip for 96-bit does the job. - usertests Reply Probably custom, and I think there has been another example we could point to. I think it was the M3 Ultra using custom 128-bit LPDDR5 packages.thestryker said:The biggest question here is whether it's custom packaging or a multiple chip configuration. Phones typically only have a single memory chip and LPDDR5X packages only go up to 64-bit. - LordVile Reply Said they moved to the same method as they do for the M chips.thestryker said:The biggest question here is whether it's custom packaging or a multiple chip configuration. Phones typically only have a single memory chip and LPDDR5X packages only go up to 64-bit. - thestryker Reply Yeah they've done it on their highest bandwidth M series in the past. I too had just assumed the iphone would be using LPDDR6 rather than LPDDR5X though so it's interesting to see.usertests said:Probably custom, and I think there has been another example we could point to. I think it was the M3 Ultra using custom 128-bit LPDDR5 packages. - ezst036 The foldable iphone effectively cannibalizes a portion of the ipad market. Perhaps even kills the ipad outright.Reply The larger sized ipads will likely endure. - usertests Reply iPads are relatively cheap devices. The $2000+ iPhone Duo probably isn't going to wreck the iPad market too hard. iPhone Duo owners will probably end up buying iPads for their kids.ezst036 said:The foldable iphone effectively cannibalizes a portion of the ipad market. Perhaps even kills the ipad outright. The larger sized ipads will likely endure. - LordVile Reply No it doesn’t. Even the iPad Pro isn’t that expensive. It’s also a different devices with different supporting accessories and capabilities. You could write and assignment on an iPad, not really the case with a phoneezst036 said:The foldable iphone effectively cannibalizes a portion of the ipad market. Perhaps even kills the ipad outright. The larger sized ipads will likely endure.
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