iPhone 16e Features a Binned Version of Apple’s A18 Chipset With Fewer Cores

iPhone 16e was launched by Apple on Wednesday as the latest entry-level model and the spiritual successor to the iPhone SE (2022). While the phone carries similar specifications as the flagship iPhone 16 series, including the same 48-megapixel primary camera, inclusion of Apple Intelligence features, and an A18 SoC, the latter's architecture is different from its iPhone 16 counterpart. It is said to be a binned version of the A18 chipset which might potentially affect the device's performance.

Binned A18 Pro SoC on the iPhone 16e

First spotted by 9to5Mac, Apple's latest affordable iPhone model uses a binned version of the iPhone 16's A18 chipset. A look at the technical specifications of the iPhone 16e reveals that it uses a hexa-core CPU and a quad-core GPU, and while the standard model's SoC has the same CPU, its GPU count is five.

The GPU gap is further increased when compared with the A18 Pro chipset found on the iPhone 16 Pro models. It retains the same CPU core count but has a hexa-core GPU architecture. With this change, the CPU performance is expected to be the same, potential repercussions when carrying out graphic-intensive tasks, such as playing 3D games, are speculated.

However, Apple is yet to reveal if this change has any impact on the iPhone 16e's performance.

This move is said to be a result of a process known as chip binning. Notably, it is a quality stage during a chip's fabrication process where the higher performing SoCs are kept for the premium devices, whilst the less than optimal chipsets are used in other devices with a fewer number of cores in action.

Despite using a binned version of Apple's A18 SoC, the iPhone 16e still comes with support for Apple Intelligence — the Cupertino-based technology company's artificial intelligence (AI) suite for the iPhone, iPad, and other devices. Thus, it suggests that the phone might have 8GB of RAM, which is the base requirement for accessing the AI features.