Emerging leaks suggest Apple’s upcoming A20 Pro chip—believed to power the iPhone 18 Pro (and likely its Pro Max and the anticipated foldable iPhone Ultra)—features notable gains in both CPU and GPU design. Revelations from a recent supply chain tip offer a closer look at how Apple may be refining performance under the hood.
More Cache for Efficiency Cores, Stagnant Performance Cores
The leak, sourced from a reverse-engineered layout shared on Chinese social media, indicates the efficiency cores (low-power cores designed for everyday tasks) in the A20 Pro will have 8 MB of shared L2 cache. That’s an increase over the 6 MB used in those cores on the current A19 Pro chip. Meanwhile, the performance cores are expected to keep their 16 MB of L2 cache, according to the data. How much total system cache is included remains unknown, though the tipster suggests Apple is unlikely to reduce it.
GPU Expands, Layout Places it Up Top
The GPU block appears at the top of the die, with the CPU cores arrayed beneath it, per the layout. Most significantly, the graphics architecture may gain an extra core—moving from six GPU cores in A19 Pro to possibly seven in A20 Pro. This addition could translate into tangible improvements in gaming, graphics rendering, and tasks relying on parallel compute performance.
Launch timing aligns with Apple’s usual cycle: Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max on September 9, and the A20 Pro will almost certainly drive both models. Rumors also suggest the same chip may enter duty in the foldable device Apple has internally called the iPhone Ultra, which might be unveiled at the same event.
At its core, the leak points to Apple leaning into two familiar paths for performance gains: bolstering GPU throughput and making the efficiency cores more capable. These areas are increasingly vital as users expect both high-end graphics and smooth battery-friendly performance.
The anticipated enhancements in the A20 Pro chip don’t signal a sweeping redesign, but rather fine-tuning of cache allocation and graphics core count. That said, modest upgrades in those areas tend to yield noticeable improvements in both everyday responsiveness and frame rates for demanding workloads.
What to watch post-announcement: how Apple balances power efficiency with these upgrades, plus whether real-world gains in graphics-intensive tasks justify the added hardware. If the leak proves accurate, the iPhone 18 series may deliver a solid step-up for both gamers and users who push their phones visually and computationally—and without large sacrifices in battery life.
