A recent discovery in Apple’s backend code, uncovered by Nicolás Alvarez and reported by MacRumors, confirms Apple’s plans to launch four distinct iPhone 16 models this year, all powered by the same A-series chip. The leaked identifiers—iPhone17,1 through iPhone17,5—highlight a departure from the varied chip usage seen in the iPhone 15 series, suggesting a unified approach in the upcoming lineup.
Previously, Apple differentiated its models with varied chips—iPhone 15 models used A16 and A17 chips, indicated by unique identifiers for each version. However, the consistent ’17,x’ series identifiers for the upcoming iPhone 16 suggest that these models will share the same A18 chip, aligning with Apple’s historical pattern of linking identifiers with chip types.
This unified chip strategy may be part of Apple’s broader push for enhanced performance across all devices, especially to support the new Apple Intelligence features anticipated in iOS 18. These AI-driven capabilities require robust processing power, which the A18 chip aims to deliver uniformly across the new iPhone spectrum.
Although the standard and Pro models may still vary—potentially in GPU cores—this move ensures that all upcoming devices, including a possible new iPhone SE model, can adequately support advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence functionalities.
