The A20 Pro inside the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max is Apple’s first chip built on a 2-nanometer process. Apple says its 7-core GPU is up to 40 percent faster than the A19 Pro, its dual 16-core Neural Engine doubles the AI processing of last year’s chip, and memory bandwidth is up 50 percent.
Apple has paired the move to 2nm with a new cooling design rather than relying on the smaller transistors alone. The chip is also headed into the foldable iPhone Duo, according to the keynote, and the rest of the phone is covered in our iPhone 18 Pro announcement coverage.
A20 Pro vs A19 Pro: the numbers Apple gave
Apple’s press release compares the A20 Pro to the A19 Pro on three fronts. It did not give a CPU performance figure.
Don’t miss the best of The Mac Observer
Set us as a preferred source and our Apple reporting ranks higher in your Google Search results and Discover feed — one tap, no account changes.
| Component | A20 Pro | Apple’s claim vs A19 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Process | 2nm | First 2nm Apple chip |
| CPU | 6 cores (2 performance, 4 efficiency) with integrated Neural Accelerators | Not stated |
| GPU | 7 cores | Up to 40 percent faster |
| Neural Engine | Dual 16-core (32 cores) | Double the AI processing |
| Memory bandwidth | Not stated | 50 percent more |
| Cooling | Vapor chamber attached to the chip | About 3x the cooling performance |
Why 2nm matters beyond the spec sheet
A smaller process lets Apple fit more transistors into the same area, and the way Apple has spent that budget is telling. The CPU stays at six cores while the Neural Engine doubles to 32 cores, which puts on-device AI ahead of raw CPU count as the priority.
That lines up with iOS 27, which launches Apple’s new Siri AI in beta on Monday, September 14. Apple Intelligence runs on-device and with Private Cloud Compute, so the more the Neural Engine can handle locally, the less has to leave the phone.
The next-generation vapor chamber is the other half of the story. Apple attaches it directly to the chip and cites about three times the cooling performance of the prior design, which is what lets a faster GPU hold its speed instead of throttling.
The chips around the A20 Pro
The A20 Pro is not the only new silicon in the iPhone 18 Pro. Apple’s press release lists two more of its own chips.
- N1 wireless chip: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread
- C2 modem: 15 percent less energy than the C1X, with mmWave 5G in the US
- A20 Pro: also used in the iPhone Duo, according to the keynote
Apple has not said how much of the iPhone 18 Pro Max’s 45-hour video playback rating comes from the C2 versus the A20 Pro. Battery is one of the four areas Greg Joswiak named in Apple’s announcement, along with camera, performance and intelligence.
The A20 Pro ships in the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max on Friday, September 18, with pre-orders opening Saturday, September 12 at 5 a.m. PT. Apple has not said whether a non-Pro A20 exists, and there is no standard iPhone 18 this year, which we cover in why Apple isn’t launching a standard iPhone 18. The foldable’s launch is covered in our iPhone Duo preview.
