An alleged soldering diagram for Apple’s A20 Pro chip suggests the processor will deliver a number of significant upgrades, including a seven-core GPU, a wider memory interface, and a larger L2 cache for its efficiency cores.
The claims come from a Weibo user who says the layout was reconstructed by mapping the positions of the chip’s solder balls and overlaying them with chip-level images to trace the location of each block on the processor. According to the post, the resulting outline shows a two- and four-core CPU configuration and a seven-core GPU, with the top of the chip housing the GPU and the CPU occupying the center.
Based on the configuration, the leaker expects the A20 Pro’s efficiency cores to share an 8MB L2 cache, compared to 6MB on the A19 Pro, while the performance cores retain their existing 16MB L2 cache. The size of the shared system-level cache is not yet known, but the leaker believes it is unlikely to decrease given the new image signal processor and engine neuronal of the chip.
As for the GPU, the seven-core configuration would mark an increase over the A19 Pro’s six cores, a jump of around 16%. The leak also points to a 96-bit memory interface for the LPDDR5x RAM, compared to the A19 Pro’s 64-bit interface, a 50% increase that would significantly increase memory bandwidth. Graphics performance tends to scale with memory bandwidth, so the wider bus could have an additional impact on top of the additional GPU core.
The A20 Pro is very likely to launch the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max next week. It could also be used in Apple’s first foldable iPhone.
