Apple iPhone 16 Processor To Use Armv9 Architecture

On Monday, Apple will unveil its latest iPhone 16 series, which will feature significant advances in AI thanks to the new A18 Bionic. The iPhone 16 will use Armv9-A architecture, a step up from the Armv8-A used in most recent smartphones.

For the British developer Arm, the appearance of another Apple processor with a new architecture will mean a significant increase in revenue, since the v9 architecture implies twice the royalties compared to the v8 architecture. Apple is a major client of Arm, they have a long-term licensing agreement, and the iPhone generates about half of the American giant’s revenue. The v9 architecture, presented by Arm in 2021, is already used by Apple’s M4 family of processors, which can be found in computers and tablets of this brand. In promoting smartphones of the iPhone 16 family, the company will focus on a set of Apple Intelligence functions related to generative artificial intelligence.

The upcoming iOS 18.1 update, currently in beta, includes AI-related improvements such as improved photo processing and selective cloud integration with OpenAI. These updates are expected to be officially released in October.