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The iPhone 17 Air may use an A19 Pro chip when it is launched, as leakers continue to issue conflicting rumors about what Apple will use this time around.
Apple’s current chip strategy for the iPhone lineup is to include a Pro version of a chip in its Pro models, and a lesser-powered non-Pro variant in its standard versions. For the iPhone 17 Air, it may go down a different path.
According to serial leaker Fixed Focus Digital in a Weibo post, the iPhone 17 will be the only model to have the A19 chip. It will also be the model with the least memory at 8GB.
The iPhone 17 Air, the replacement for the Plus model for 2025, won’t join the iPhone 17 on the A19, but instead may use the A19 Pro. It will also have a larger 12GB of memory to work with.
Both the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max are also set to use the A19 Pro, and have 12GB of memory.
Same but different
Though the iPhone 17 Air will allegedly use the same A19 Pro chip as the Pro models, the leaker adds that it won’t necessarily be at the same level of performance.
While both Pro models will use a 6-core GPU, the version in the iPhone 17 Air will apparently have a five-core GPU.
This wouldn’t necessarily require much work from Apple to accomplish, as it could be accomplished by a process known as chip binning. A common technique used by chip producers, it deactivates cores on a chip and allows it to be sold or used under a different specification.
It typically means that, if a single core is not working properly on a multi-core chip, that core could be deactivated and the rest of the chip supplied at a lower specification. This is helpful for Apple, as this means it can still use chips that aren’t quite good enough for the Pro models if only one core is faulty, by using it in the iPhone 17 Air instead.
As a Weibo leaker, Fixed Focus Digital doesn’t have a great reputation for accuracy, but they have been correct in the past on details like the name of the iPhone 16e.
However, the potential use of chip binning to increase chip yields in this way seems like a plausible action for Apple to take.
Conflicting chip theories
The new chip claim continues a disagreement between leakers over what the actual chip Apple will use in the iPhone 17 range will be. It has been thought that the iPhone 17 series will use the A19 across the board, but there have been dissenting views.
Chief among them is Jeff Pu of GF Securities, who said in May that the core iPhone 17 will stick with the A18 chip. That’s the same one used in the iPhone 16 lineup, and would put the iPhone 17 at a distinct performance disadvantage to the rest of the range if true.
Pu has also forecast that the iPhone 17 Air will have 8GB of memory, against the 12GB predicted by others. Pu at least agrees with the 8GB of the iPhone 17 and the 12GB of the Pro models.
