An leaked image that is claimed to be of the iPhone 18 Pro motherboard has appeared online, and the image shows the A20 Pro chip that will power the new device will offer impressive performance gains over the previous model.
The leaked image, shared by two Weibo accounts, “WHYLAB” and “Ice Universe,” appears to show the A20 Pro chip is integrated into TSMC’s new packaging architecture, known as Wafer-Level Multi-Chip Module (WMCM) technology.
In the past, Apple has used package-on-package (PoP) designs, where the DRAM sits directly on top of the application processor. While this method has advantages, including lower power consumption and reduced latency, it also concentrates heat in the chip packaging area.
In the leaked image, the DRAM has been moved to the side of the package, which should reduce thermal coupling between the processor and DRAM likely improving heat dissipation during heavy workloads. The design is said to use LPDDR6 memory with a 96-bit memory bus, which should prove to be more energy-efficient.
While the new chip’s size is reportedly roughly the same as the A19 Pro, the Neural Processing Unit (NPU) appears to be significantly larger, suggesting that Apple has made moves to improve AI performance.
The A20 Pro chip, which is expected to power the iPhone 18 Pro and foldable iPhone models, is expected to use TSMC’s new 2nm process, also known as N2. The new ship is expected to be as much as 15% faster and 30% more efficient than A19 chips.
The new N2 process also introduces new super-high-performance metal-insulator-metal capacitors into the chip’s power delivery system, providing more than double the capacitance density of the previous generation, which should boost performance and improve power stability and energy efficiency.
