For the past two iPhone update cycles, Apple has used different silicon for each model, a new chipset for the latest Pro models and last year's system-on-chip for the standard iPhone. This practice appears to be ending this fall with the arrival of the iPhone 16.

A bit of code in Apple's back-end suggests that all four iPhone 16 models expected later this year will have the same A-series chip. The code was discovered by Nicolás Alvarez and shared with MacRumors.

The code discovered by Alvarez features numbers indicating the system-on-chip that drives the phone; note that Apple identifiers in the code, such as A16 being listed as 15 and A17 as 16, use smaller numbers than the common "name" of the chip Please note.

The five new iPhone identifiers are listed like this:

For comparison, here is how the iPhone 15 is identified in the code:

As you may recall, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are the same as the iPhone 14 Pro models, and the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus use the A16 Bionic chip from the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max models. The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, on the other hand, use the A17 Pro silicon and are listed as 16,x.

With this leaked code, it seems likely that the iPhone 16 lineup will all use the same chip. A move that has been begging Apple to do so for at least the last couple of generations.

The fact that Apple is rumored to be changing the iPhone 16 lineup and has five devices listed could add fuel to that speculation MacRumors believes the additional model could be the future iPhone SE - past SE model, since it is powered by the same chipset found in the flagship iPhone released the previous fall, which would coincide with the rumored 2025 release of the iPhone SE 4. However, with the iPhone 16 release date coming up in a few months, this is unlikely to be the case, as there have not been many Ultra rumors.

Even with the 17,x identifier, it is not certain that all four (or even five) future iPhones will have the exact same A18 processor. Apple could distinguish between the Pro and standard models by separating the chip into a standard version and a "Pro" version.

Alternatively, the number of GPUs or cores available in the standard model iPhone 16 may be reduced compared to those available in the Pro variant, as Apple did with the recently released M4 iPad.

Apple's reasons for changing its split-chip strategy for the iPhone 16 are likely related to Apple Intelligence, which appears to require significant power to operate properly; AI is already available in the A17 Pro-powered iPhone 15 Pro models, and despite rumors that Apple Intelligence may be subscription-based, Apple does not want to limit AI to only Pro models in the future. Thus, a powerful chipset is needed for all of the next generation iPhones.