iPhone 17 to Reportedly Use Same Chip as iPhone 16; All Models Could Incorporate Metalens Technology

iPhone 17 lineup is likely to go official in September with four models — iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. While we wait for the official debut, an analyst has suggested that the standard iPhone 17 will feature the same chipset as last year's iPhone 16. Meanwhile, Apple is said to use a new metalens technology in the upcoming iPhone series, and this is expected to significantly reduce the size of the Dynamic Island in all four iPhone models.

iPhone 17 May Retain Last Year's Chip and RAM

MacRumors, quoting a research note by analyst Jeff Pu from equity research firm GF Securities, reports that iPhone 17 will use the same A18 chip as found on the iPhone 16. This chip could be developed with TSMC's second-generation 3nm N3E node. The RAM capacity of the handset will also reportedly remain the same at 8GB.

The iPhone 17 Air is expected to come with an A19 chip, while the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are said to ship with the A19 Pro chip. These chipsets are said to be manufactured with TSMC's third-generation 3nm process, known as N3P. The iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max are tipped to be equipped with 12GB of RAM, up from 8GB in iPhone 16 Pro models.

Jeff Pu, in November last year, claimed that the entire iPhone 17 lineup will run on A19 and A19 Pro SoCs.

Additionally, Pu, in his research note, spotted by 9to5Mac, stated that all models in the iPhone 17 series will use a new metalens technology for the proximity sensor. This technology is said to assist Apple in reducing the size of the Face ID sensor. With this change, the entire iPhone 17 family will reportedly get a smaller Dynamic Island, which is likely to offer an increased screen-to-body ratio.

This indicates a shift from an earlier prediction by the analyst that suggested only the iPhone 17 Pro Max would feature this design change. The Dynamic Island was first introduced with the iPhone 14 Pro models. The pill-shaped cutout houses the Face ID hardware and the selfie camera. It was expanded to all iPhone 15 models in 2023.