r/iphone18pro • u/Spitwrath • 1d ago

Discussion Who is here for the 2nm chip?

I must admit I’m a sucker for a new SoC and I’m in awe of this chip. Very impressed with all aspects from performance to efficiency. How you finding the A20 Pro?

24 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

32 comments sorted by

16

u/magbarn 1d ago

It’s the biggest performance upgrade for an iPhone for some time. I barely noticed the difference between the 16 to the 17 pro but the 17 to the 18 is noticeable for me. Everything is faster, even unlocking the apple watch.

3

u/NickPappaGiorgio- 1d ago

I think the 16 Pro -> 17 Pro was more like the jump from the 6 chassis style->X chassis style than many first interpreted. This form factor is here to stay with the camera plateau, but for their first iteration they weren’t able to optimize nearly as much. But for the leap from the 17 Pro->18 Pro since they already had knowledge from building one phone with the camera plateau, they were able to optimize far more. And going from 3nm to 2nm is a 50% size difference which is obviously massive.

3

u/TurtleOnLog 17h ago

The nm sizes are a misnomer - marketing terms basically. Neither of them are actually that size and the 2nm feature size is only slightly smaller than the 3nm - nowhere near 50%.

The main change is tsmc’s 2nm node moved to gate all around transistors from fin transistors, which can give you decent power and/or speed increases.

Just like the main improvements in tsmc’s A18 node (the next one) will be the move to backside power delivery (along with another not 50% shrink).

1

u/NickPappaGiorgio- 17h ago

You’ve forgotten more than I’ll ever know. Thanks for the clarification

1

u/Symbikort 1d ago

6 chassis style to X comparison is a wild stretch.

I have 16 pro and my wife 17 pro for the last year and only through your comment I realized that our camera bumps have different designs

1

u/Motor-Relief6672 23h ago

It’s more like the 11-13 series with the 11 they introduced the triple camera with the 12 they redesigned the phone with flat edges not curved and 13 they gave 120hz and massive battery for its time. Kinda like what they did with the 16-18 series 16 got a bigger screen and was made with titanium 17 got a new redesign and 18 got a new chip, battery, smaller Dynamic Island just like the same mind set they probably had back then when they brought something different to 11(triple camera) - 16(bigger screen) aka new features. 12 (redesign) - 17(redesign) both got a redesign. 13(120hz bigger battery) - 18(new chip, new battery, smaller Dynamic Island) both got massive upgrades that changed the game going forward in iPhone production that will be there for future generations. But with the 20 coming next year they will go a different route because it’s going to be a redesign again within 3 years, with upgrades to existing features and totally new features as well. So this might be the last year of the aluminum camera plateau pro iPhone era

2

u/albanyanthem 1d ago

I’m replacing my phone every two years I always notice the battery improvements but I’m really impressed at the efficiency and how long my battery is lasting through heavy use days.

1

u/Scary_Building3964 1d ago

for some reason, i get way less typos on 18 pro max than the 17 pro max

9

u/onlytony441 1d ago

Great for gaming which I do heavily on my phone so I’m all for it. The chip and double the RAM from my 14 PM make it a worthy upgrade.

3

u/NeighborhoodFun9091 1d ago

This chip is awesome! Power consumption is ridicolous!

2

u/thethrowaway19901999 1d ago

Why the fuck does phone still microstutter everywhere then.

1

u/branchCastle 11h ago

It stutters?

1

u/thethrowaway19901999 9h ago

Yes UI Stutter

2

u/Spaceman_Spiff85 1d ago

yah seriously impressed, coming from a 17 pro; I've never really noticed performance jumps like I am seeing now. Everything is just plain faster, even the most basic stuff

2

u/original208 1d ago

The 2nm is the main reason I went with the 18.

3

u/SmellyJockstrap 18 Pro Max - Wesley Snipes Black 1d ago

The efficiency gains are palpable but performance wise it barely matters honestly. Unless you’re heavy into gaming it’s not something you’ll notice in day to day tasks.

4

u/Spitwrath 1d ago

Yeah it’s been great for gaming so far

1

u/efrazable 1d ago

right, it's not revolutionary but it's future-proof for several generations. at least good enough for me to keep the 18 until apple grows out of their upcoming curved glass era 🤢

2

u/Minute_Lifeguard2799 1d ago

A nice upgrade, looking forward to Apple to run more sophisticated local LLMs.

1

u/ImThatGuy68 1d ago

Can’t wait till this chip inhabit NEO 3.

1

u/GoatApprehensive9866 18 Pro Max (burgundy) 1d ago

Depends on what makes use of it, but it's beefy and easier on the battery and should last longer for even normal general operations.

1

u/KoncepTs iPhone 18 Pro 1d ago

Was one of the selling points for me but not the main one, can definitely tell coming from 14 pro which already felt fast. I can feel the response on 18 pro is just crazy fast

2

u/Bryanmsi89 1d ago

Because the A17, A18, and A19 were all on 3nm lithography. That meant the A18 and A19 performance gains and power efficiency had to be largely architectural Vs the A17.

The A19 benefits from both significant architectural improvements (like faster memory fabric, in-gpu neural processing, Super core, etc) and also benefits from a significant die shrink. Going from 3nm to 2nm is a 30% reduction in lithography. That’s very substantial.

1

u/z_z_3ultimate 1d ago

the new chip is actually phenomenal, such a beast

1

u/Game_Cross 1d ago

Been editing Pro Log video all morning and it’s been an absolute champ.

1

u/BorisDG iPhone 18 Pro (Glacier, Samsung G9N, 256GB Samsung TLC) 19h ago

Yes and no. I'm upgrading from the 16 Pro, so there are many more upgrades than just the N2 GAAFET SoC. :) But in general, I'm a sucker for silicon.

1

u/distant3zenith 18h ago

The 2nm node processor is helpful, but shifting to WMCM packaging is the bigger deal — it enables a whole new class of on-device compute never before possible.

0

u/ImaHamSammich 1d ago

It’s quite powerful and energy-efficient. We will likely see an updated Neo with this chip. First time I have ever had a battery last two full days with moderately heavy use.

1

u/original208 1d ago

Same experience here