TECH

Apple M4 and A18 will have more powerful neural engines for iOS 18 AI features

iPhone 15 Pro Max has A17 Pro

x.com Rumour assessment   🤔 Possible

Supply chain report suggests the next generation of Apple processors will have more Neural Engine cores to make the artificial intelligence introduced in iOS 18 work more efficiently

It's no secret that Apple is working on new artificial intelligence features that should appear sometime in 2024. Apple CEO Tim Cook said news about artificial intelligence will come “later this year” and most expect it to be related to iOS 18.

According to a report by Economic Daily News, Apple M4 processors and A18 will have more artificial intelligence processing cores. This appears to be a reference to the Neural Engine, which Apple uses to accelerate machine learning or “AI” tasks.

The report, machine translated from Chinese, notes that this will mean increased investment in TSMC's operations. Apple's orders for 3nm processors are expected to grow by 50% compared to last year.

Apple already produces chips using the 3nm process technology. These include the M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max and A17 Pro. The M3 Ultra is expected to be released later in 2024.

A more powerful Neural Engine is inevitable, although until now it has been something of a black box. Apple typically claims that its Neural Engine has increased performance due to more cores or processes.

No matter what it's called, machine learning or artificial intelligence, it has always been a part of the iPhone thanks to features like the on-screen keyboard or Siri. However, expectations for iOS 18 are much higher than for more advanced autocorrect.

This supply chain report is technically a rumor because it cannot be confirmed. It seems likely that Apple will improve its Neural Engine for future features that are almost confirmed, so we rate it as “possible.”

Apple is expected to announce iOS 18 during WWDC in June. The iPhone 16 with the A18 processor will arrive in September, and the M4 series will be introduced by the end of 2024 or early 2025.

Rumor Score

🤔

Possible

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