A supply chain leak has provided new information on the A20 Pro chip that's set to power the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro, detailing how improved gaming performance and more fluid everyday use are in the cards.
Coming via a post on the Weibo social network, the leak claims that the A20 Pro's chip layout was reverse-engineered from its solder positions. This method allows the leaker to identify different aspects of the chip and make assumptions based on what they see.
Based on the newly plotted layout, the leaker claims that the A20 Pro's efficiency CPU cores will have 8MB of L2 cache to share between them. That would represent an increase over the 6MB of cache offered to cores in the iPhone 17 Pro's A19 Pro.
By contrast, it's believed the performance cores will have the same 16MB of L2 cache as last time out. The leaker notes that while it's as yet unclear how much system cache will be available, it's unlikely to be reduced.
Moving on to the GPU, it's believed that it occupies the top section of the chip, with the CPU sitting beneath it. Based on layout assumptions already made, the leaker believes that a seven-core GPU is likely. For comparison, the A19 Pro has six GPU cores.
The additional GPU core has the potential to boost gaming performance on the new iPhones. The extra L2 cache available to the chip's efficiency CPU cores would likely reduce latency, allowing day-to-day tasks to remain snappy during use.
If Apple sticks to its previous release patterns, the A20 Pro will be used in the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max when they make their debut on September 9. It's also possible the same chip will play a part in Apple's first foldable iPhone. Dubbed iPhone Ultra, the new device is also expected to be announced on September 9.
