Apple to rebrand A15 Bionic as A16 for iPhone 14? Price may rise too

Apple will slightly modify the A15 chip, which is based on the 5nm process, and rebrand it as the A16.

The actual new chip could be labelled as the A16 Pro, and will be reserved for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. (REUTERS)

The Apple iPhone 14 series is months away from its launch, however, rumours and expected features have already made their way to the internet. Among several rumours, the recent one claims that the company will only slightly modify the A15 chip and rebrand it as A16 for some of the upcoming models. A15 is based on the 5nm process. A report by GizmoChina says that the actual new chip could be labelled as the A16 Pro, and will be reserved for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that both the models - iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro Max will get the A16 chip, however, the iPhone 14 and the iPhone 14 Max will retain the same A15 chip as the iPhone 13 series have. Kuo also suggested that all iPhone 14 series models may have 6GB of memory. Not only Kuo, but Bloomberg's Mark Gurman have also backed this claim that the Cupertino based giant will reuse the A15 Bionic chipset for the base iPhone 14 and the iPhone 14 Max model this year. However, to keep it in line with its typical annual chip refresh cycle, the company will be rebranding the new chipset to the A16 for Pro model and Pro Max model.

iPhone 14 Pro: Expected features and specifications

The upcoming iPhone 14 Pro models are expected to feature both hole-punch and pill-shaped cutouts near the top of the display. The hole is speculated to be for the Face ID dot projector, while the pill-shaped cutout will supposedly be the front camera as well as Face ID infrared camera at a minimum. Additionally, the Pro models would come with a big 48MP camera upgrade.

Meanwhile, Apple has reportedly advised major US carriers to be ready for the launch of eSIM-only smartphones by September this year. Apple is expected to remove the physical SIM card slot starting with some iPhone 14 models.