You don’t need to be plugged into Apple’s supply chain to predict that the iPhone 16 Pro will be faster than the iPhone 15. However, a new report claims next year’s phone will bring several upgrades that will make almost every component faster.
First is a new chip. After introducing the 3nm iPhone 17 Pro chip in the iPhone 15 Pro this year, Apple will reportedly use TSMC’s second-gen N3E technology, which brings enhanced performance and power efficiency. While Apple will reportedly be moving the entire line to the A18 chipset, only the high-end models will get the “Pro” version with more cores and faster speeds.
There are also other components in line for a speed boost. According to Jeff Pu of Haitong International Securities (via 9to5Mac), Apple is planning to upgrade the iPhone 16 Pro’s Wi-Fi chip to Wi-Fi 7, which is capable of speeds up to four times faster than Wi-Fi 6E with more reliability and less network congestion. The iPhone 15 Pro only just got support for Wi-Fi 6E, while the iPhone 15 still has Wi-Fi 6.
Finally, Pu reports that Apple will use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X75 5G modem, which delivers “better speeds, coverage, mobility, link robustness and location accuracy.” According to Qualcomm, the X75 modem’s new architecture will “further improve sustained performance across user scenarios including elevators, subway trains, airports, parking garages, mobile gaming sessions and more.”
Apple has been rumored to be working on its own 5G modem for many years, but recent reports suggest it’s still a couple of years away from production and the iPhone will continue to use Qualcomm modems for several more years.
Author: Michael Simon, Executive Editor
Michael Simon has been covering Apple since the iPod was the iWalk. His obsession with technology goes back to his first PC—the IBM Thinkpad with the lift-up keyboard for swapping out the drive. He's still waiting for that to come back in style tbh.