‘Apple adjusts system-level memory A16-soc compared to A15’

Images have emerged of the Apple A16 soc. The L2 cache memory of the performance cores would be 16MB, which is 33 percent more than with the A15. The system-level cache memory of the soc would be 24MB, while that was still 32MB with the A15-soc.

The editors of tech site Angstronomics saw a video of TechanaLye on Twitter appear containing, in their own words, Apple’s A16 soc. The editors then conducted their own die analysis of the chip by comparing its architecture to that of the A15-soc.

According to Angstronomics, that architecture remained largely the same, but according to the editors there are some differences. Angstronomics states that the L2 cache of the so-called high-efficiency cores on the A16 has remained the same with 4MB. The L2 cache of the so-called high-performance cores would be 16MB instead of 12MB with the A15. With the A14, the L2 cache memory was still 8MB.

The system-level cache memory is 24MB according to Angstronomics, while that at the A15 32MB. With the A14, that memory was 16MB in size. Apple would also have switched to Lpddr5-6400 memory with the A16 instead of using lpddr4x-4266 memory even longer. That is in line with previous leaks about the A16. The A16 would be slightly larger than the A15, but Angstronomics could not give exact dimensions.

Apple introduced the A16 soc at its iPhone event in early September. The mobile soc is only used for the new iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. The chipset is baked on TSMC’s N4P process. That is an improved version of the 5nm process on which the A15 is baked. The A16 contains two high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores. The high-performance cores should be according to Apple Use 20 percent less energy compared to the A15. However, Apple did not provide a direct performance comparison with the A15.

Update14:20: Added additional information about the A16 in the last paragraph.

Analysis Apple A16-soc (left) versus Apple A15-soc (right)