IPhone 16e’s A18 Processor Is Weaker Than The One In The IPhone 16

Earlier this week, Apple introduced the iPhone 16e as the latest member of the iPhone 16 series, which already has four other members. The new pocket-friendly iPhone model brings several upgrades over the iPhone SE (2022), including a powerful Apple A18 processor. On the surface, it seems that the iPhone 16e uses the same A18 processor that also powers the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus models. However, this isn’t the case as Apple has equipped the iPhone 16e with a “binned” version of the A18 chipset.

It is now official that the A18 chip inside the iPhone 16e doesn’t match the one Apple used in the standard iPhone 16 model. As per the official specs from Apple, the iPhone 16e’s processor sports a 6-core CPU with two performance cores and four efficiency cores. The CPU is accompanied by a 4-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine. While the chip’s CPU and NPU cores are the same as the regular A18 processor, the GPU of the iPhone 16e has one less core.

It’s worth mentioning that one less GPU core is not likely to be a noticeable difference in real-world performance. However, it will certainly appear in benchmarks and more resource-demanding games and apps.

What are the “binned” chips?

So, Apple has used a binned version of the A18 chip inside the iPhone 16e. For those unaware, chip binning is a common quality control process in the semiconductor industry. Manufacturing chipsets is quite a complicated process and the yields are never 100 percent. Some chips don’t reach the intended core count or clock speeds.

Thus, instead of throwing these chips out, most companies separate them into different bins. They then disable certain unusable cores and use them in other phones or sell them to other companies at lower prices. It’s worth pointing out that Apple equipped the 7th-gen iPad Mini with a binned version of the A17 Pro chipset.