Exclusive Apple chipset for standard iPhone 16 reportedly in the works, new ‘Capture Button’ tipped

HIGHLIGHTS

• Apple is reportedly working on an A-series chipset which will be specifically designed for the standard iPhone 16 models.
• This could be the first time that an A-series chip will be specifically designed for the vanilla models.
• Apple is planning to add a capacitive touch button below the sleep/wake button on all four iPhone 16 models.

Just days after the launch of the new iPhones, we’re now starting to hear first-hand leaks about the iPhone 16 models. With the iPhone 15 Pro, Apple introduced a new 3nm A17 Pro SoC and historically, this could end up on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus next year. Now, a Weibo user claims that the A17 chip designed for the vanilla models will be made through a different manufacturing process to the A17 Pro to reduce costs. Separately, the iPhone 16 is rumoured to introduce a new ‘Capture Button’ next year.

Apple’s low-cost A17 chipset

• A Weibouser, who claims to be an integrated circuit expert with 25 years of experience working on Intel’s Pentium processors, talks more about Apple’s plans for its standard iPhone chip in 2024.
• The A17 Pro chipset on the iPhone 15 Pro models is fabricated using TSMC’s N3B process but Apple is reportedly planning to switch to the lower-cost N3E process for the next year’s standard A17 SoC.
• This vanilla A17 SoC will be present on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus.
• This could be the first time that an A-series chip will be specifically designed for the vanilla models.

Historically, Apple always used the same chipset for its entire product portfolio but with iPhone 14 in 2022, the company is using the previous year’s A-series chipset for its non-Pro models. However, the A15 Bionic chip on the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus is a higher-binned variant with one additional GPU core than the A15 SoC used on the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini.

N3B is TSMC’s original 3nm node that is developed in partnership with Apple while the N3E is a cheaper and simpler node, which most other TSMC clients will use. The latter has fewer EUV layers and lower transistor density than N3B, resulting in lower efficiency.

Earlier this month, Haitong International Securities analyst Jeff Pu corroborated about 2024’s A17 chipset being fabricated with N3E, while also claiming that iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus will feature 8GB RAM, an upgrade from 6GB on the iPhone 15.

New iPhone 16 series might feature Capture Button

• Apple introduced a new Action Button on the iPhone 15 Pro series, replacing the very popular mute switch.
• Now, according to a reportpublished on MacRumors citing sources associated with relatively popular leak accounts from the iPhone 15 rumours, Apple is in plans to introduce new buttons to next-generation iPhones.
• Sources stress that the new details are coming from pre-production information and plans for an iPhone 16 without a button exist.
• According to the report, Apple is planning to add a capacitive touch button below the sleep/wake button on all four iPhone 16 models.
• The button will reportedly be called the ‘Capture Button’ and is codenamed Project Nova.
• While the purpose of the new button is unclear at the moment, sources say that the mmWave panel will be shifted to the opposite side below the volume buttons.

Furthermore, the report also says that iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus cameras will return to the old stacked orientation design. This might be useful for capturing spatial video. Apple Vision Pro has a dedicated button for capturing spatial photos and videos. There are chances that the new button on the iPhone 16 series could be a move to create more spatial content for the Vision Pro.