Apple is preparing to give its standard iPhone 18 a brand-new A20 chip that cuts costs by trimming graphics and cache while preserving the on-device AI hardware, according to a leaked solder ball map analyzed on Weibo and reported by Notebookcheck. The base model is expected in spring 2027, but Apple has not announced a price or release date.
The A20 is described as a slimmed-down sibling of the A20 Pro, which already powers the iPhone 18 Pro starting at $1,199 and the iPhone Duo starting at $1,999. Both chips reportedly use TSMC's 2nm process, but the standard version keeps the same dual 16-core Neural Engine and its own 4 MB cache while reducing the GPU, L2 cache, and clock speeds. The system-level cache may grow from 12 MB on the A19 to 16 MB, and the memory bus is expected to widen to 96 bits, matching the Pro.
The standard A20's bare die is estimated at 70 to 80 square millimeters, smaller than the A19's 82.8 mm² and well under the A20 Pro's 98.8 mm². A smaller die means more chips per wafer and a lower bill, which matters more on the pricier 2nm node. Apple reportedly halves the L2 cache to 8 MB for the two performance cores and 4 MB for the four efficiency cores, a 50% reduction from the Pro. Cache is fast memory next to the processor cores, so a smaller amount can mean more trips to slower memory under heavy load, but it is also one of the most direct ways to shrink a die because SRAM has scaled poorly on recent nodes.
The A20 Pro uses wafer-level multi-chip module packaging, which places the processor and memory side by side instead of stacking them, allowing the chip to connect directly to the vapor chamber cooling plate introduced with the iPhone 17 Pro. Apple says that design delivers up to 40% better sustained performance than the 17 Pro. The standard A20 is expected to stick with traditional package-on-package, where memory sits on top of the chip. That approach is cheaper and more compact but traps heat. Packaging is how the A20 Pro reportedly reaches 4.93 GHz, a figure Apple has never confirmed. The standard A20 is expected to clock considerably lower and likely does not need the same cooling tricks.
With an expected 5-core GPU against the Pro's 7 cores, the gap could show up during long gaming sessions. Past base chips trailed their Pro siblings by one GPU core, so a two-core deficit would be wider than usual. The leak says nothing about the base model getting vapor chamber cooling.
The AI side of the chip reportedly survives the cuts largely intact. The same dual 16-core Neural Engine handles on-device tasks like live translation and photo cleanup without waiting on a server. The iPhone Duo runs the same A20 Pro, so Apple's fall lineup shares one chip, and the base model is expected to follow in spring 2027 with a lighter version of that platform.
Apple has confirmed no date, price, or chip for the iPhone 18. The iPhone 17 started at $799 and the Pro models just rose $100, so the base model's price is the number to watch. In the A16 days, the hand-me-down chip was a consolation prize, but this time the regular iPhone gets a fresh 2nm brain with a little muscle trimmed.