The new A20 chip in the iPhone 18 Pro would bring two major upgrades

Every year, Apple prepares a new chip for its latest iPhones. But the A20 Pro chip for this fall’s iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra looks like it could be very special. Here are his two big rumored upgrades.

#1: A20 Pro will be the first 2-nanometer iPhone chip

You can always bet on Apple to come up with improvements to its latest generation chips. But some years bring bigger upgrades than others, and the new A20 Pro chip should stand out.

Indeed, with the A20 Pro, Apple will use TSMC’s new 2 nanometer process for manufacturing the chips.

The move to the 2nm process from the current 3nm process means that the A20 Pro will be able to offer more power and operate more efficiently with a similar sized chip footprint.

Every time there is a notable evolution in manufacturing technology, we see this happening. That’s why Apple works years in advance to secure TSMC’s most advanced offerings. This helps the company stay ahead of the curve in the chips that power not only the iPhone, but also the iPad, Mac and more.

We don’t know what specific areas Apple will focus on improving with the A20 Pro, but thanks to 2nm, the company will have more headroom than usual.

#2: Moving to wafer-level multi-chip module will bring even more gains

In addition to the 2nm gains, the A20 Pro is also expected to get another unique improvement thanks to a packaging innovation called Wafer-Level Multi-Chip Module.

Here is my colleague Marcus with the details:

For the first time, Apple is preparing to adopt Wafer-Level Multi-Chip Module (WMCM) packaging for its iPhone processors. WMCM allows different components, such as SoC and DRAM, to be integrated directly at the wafer level, before being cut into individual chips.

It uses a technique that connects chips without the need for an interposer or substrate, which can provide both thermal and signal integrity benefits.

In other words, Apple’s next-generation chip won’t just be smaller and more power efficient thanks to N2. It will also be physically closer to its onboard memory, enabling better performance and potentially lower power consumption for tasks like AI processing and high-end gaming.

With WMCM, the A20 Pro should perform particularly well for AI tasks. Which is no surprise, since the flagship features of iOS 27 seem entirely AI-centric.

What areas of improvement are you most hoping for in the iPhone 18 Pro? Let us know in the comments.

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