Around this time of year is when the iPhone performance rumors start to heat up, and this time around is no different. Twitter user URedditor has tweeted out some information about the latest A17 chips that are coming to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max — and there are some big updates.
2023 is a big year for iPhone
Every year, the iPhone gets chip and RAM upgrades; but this year, it looks like it’s only getting one of the two. The A17 chip is set to be built into the iPhone 15 Pro, with a 6-core CPU and a 6-core GPU, adding a core to the GPU from the A16’s five. The chip will also have a processor boost to 3.7GHz, up from 3.46GHz on the previous chip — so the latest Pro iPhones look to be even snappier than the iPhones we have now.
Apple A17 - t8130 - Coll6 CPU Cores + 6 GPU Cores3.70 GHz6GB LPDDR5 DRAM - Micron/SamsungTSMC 3nm ProcessLPDDR = Low Power Double Data Rate SDRAMThe A17 is used by both the D83 and D84, also likely planned for D47 and D48 (16 series), as the D9x will use t8140 (A18).August 9, 2023
RAM-wise, it looks like it’s going to be pretty much the same as last year — 6GB. There have been some rumblings in the past that the iPhone 15 Pro models would get 8GB of RAM, but that rumor now seems unlikely, at least according to URedditor.
The A17 is only coming to the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max, with the regular iPhone 15 likely receiving last year's A16. Either way, for both handsets, it’s looking like a significant update — particularly with the efficiency gains of the new 3nm process.
iPhone processor gains: iMore’s take
The iPhone 15 Pro is the phone we all want, especially the big-screened iPhone 15 Pro Max. (That might be called the iPhone 15 Ultra this year. You know. Like the watch, which itself is primed to get an Apple Watch Ultra 2 successor). These processor gains are expected and welcomed, and likely to be in some way accurate.
As for 6GB RAM? It seems realistic to some degree, given the way that chips and RAM remained largely unchanged in the iPhone 14 from the iPhone 13, that we’d see an unchanged amount of RAM in the new phone — as disappointing as it may be. Of course, this is still just another grain of juicy iPhone wheat in the online rumor mill, so the actual flour we get out of it at the end may become something different. As URedditor puts it, “8GB seems unlikely (but maybe not impossible).”
As for our leaker, we’ve come to trust the words and rumors that come from URedditor — they’ve been accurate in the past with VisionPro rumors and leaks in the run up to the launch a few months ago. Of course, it’s always worth taking any of these rumors with a pinch of salt. They are for now, after all, just rumors.
