iPhone 18 leak hints at major chipset upgrade for all 4 models

Although the iPhone 18 series is still over a year away from launch, there have already been several predictions about its features. The latest insight suggests that all four models in the series will receive a significant performance boost.

This forecast comes from renowned Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has reiterated a prediction he made six months ago: the A20 chipsets powering the iPhone 18 will be built using a 2-nanometer production process.

In contrast, the current iPhone 16 models use A18 processors based on 3nm technology. Moving from 3nm to 2nm allows for more transistors to be packed into the chipset, which translates into better speed and energy efficiency.

While iPhones typically get faster every year, a shift in manufacturing like this promises to deliver performance improvements beyond the usual gains. It means the iPhone 18 could offer groundbreaking processing power.

There's still some uncertainty regarding whether every iPhone 18 model will feature the 2nm chips. Kuo now appears more confident about this than he did in September, though it could be an exclusive upgrade for the Pro and Pro Max versions.

This follows an earlier report from another analyst, Jeff Pu at GF Securities, who initially predicted the A20 chips would use a 3nm process but later revised his forecast to include the possibility of a 2nm version. It’s possible that even Apple and its suppliers aren’t fully certain yet. With the iPhone 18 slated for release in September 2026, there’s still plenty of time for the manufacturing processes to be fine-tuned.