Apple’s advance in generative AI this year is looking increasingly certain, especially after Economic Daily published a report Thursday on Apple’s plans for its next chips. The plans, according to ED (translated from Chinese), “will not only significantly strengthen the AI computing power of the M3 and A17 processors, but also significantly increase the number of AI computing cores and performance of the new generation of M4 and A18 processors ”, and the port rate of AI applications across all product lines will be significantly improved.
This likely means Apple will make improvements to the Neural Engine, the section of Apple’s chips that handles machine learning. However, ED does not detail how the chips will “boost AI computing power”, whether by increasing the number of cores, improving processing speed, introducing new core functions, combining all three or by other means.
It’s also easy to see how AI improvement will occur in the M4 and A18 chips; they have not been released yet and it makes sense for Apple to implement them in these chips. An A18 Pro chip will likely be at the heart of the iPhone 16 Pro when it releases this fall. As for the M4, it may not appear until the end of this year, when Apple updates the MacBook Pro and iMac.
However, ED’s report also refers to the M3 and A17 processors, which Apple has already used in shipped products. This gives the impression that Apple will make AI updates to unreleased versions of these chips. Apple has yet to release the latest M3 series chip, the M3 Ultra, so ED may be referring to the Ultra in its report. The A17 Pro is already in the iPhone 16, does this mean the non-pro A17 that will end up in the new iPhone 16 will have an AI-boosted chip? Maybe.
During Apple’s first quarter financials earlier this month, CEO Tim Cook made several references to the company’s work in AI. Cook said AI is an area the company has spent “an enormous amount of time and effort in, and we’re excited to share details of our ongoing work in this area later this year.” This could take place during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Cook’s comment came after Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Apple’s generative AI push would begin with iOS 18.
Here’s everything we know so far about iOS 18. And here’s what we know so far about the iPhone 16.
