Other Why doesn't iPhone Pro lineup get Apple's M-series chip?

[Sami13496]

Apple put M-series chip in iPad Pro. Why they don’t put it in iPhone Pro? What is the logic here?

 

[Andeddu]

Power draw and heat.

 

[Jim Lahey]

I won't be surprised if they do eventually put a low power M series derivative into iPhone just for marketing purposes. All the decent product designers left the building and there's only so many times thinner bezels and an even uglier camera cluster can sell the same phone.

 

[Basic75]

I won't be surprised if they do eventually put a low power M series derivative into iPhone just for marketing purposes.

From a technical point of view that is exactly what they are already doing. They could have given the A17 Pro a different name, like M3 Lite. But they didn't.

 

[Jim Lahey]

From a technical point of view that is exactly what they are already doing. They could have given the A17 Pro a different name, like M3 Lite. But they didn't.

Yeah I wondered if that may already be the case. Thanks for confirming. Leaves the door wide open for an easy marketing win 👍

M4 Nano.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Source

 

[krspkbl]

I'm not an expert on CPUs or SoCs but I think they are "basically the same" but obviously A series is just lower powered/smaller die. They could rebrand the A18 to the M3 Mini/Lite/SE/Nano if they wanted.

I don't think iPhones need an M3 or M4 in them. The iPad gets M series and hardly makes use of it so it'd be even more of a waste putting it in an iPhone. The MacBook Air probably doesn't take full advantage of the M3 either because of the passive cooling/thermal throttling.

The rumors of Apple releasing cheaper MacBooks probably suggests that they will not come with M series chips but could perhaps even run A series like the iPhone Pro Max

 

[Torty]

I would not be surprised to see iPhone socs in iPads again.

 

[Torty]

From a technical point of view that is exactly what they are already doing. They could have given the A17 Pro a different name, like M3 Lite. But they didn't.

It isn’t M3 lite with it’s NPU twice as powerful as M3’s.

 

[JPack]

The M-series package is too large to physically fit on the iPhone logic board. A-series chips use InFO-PoP packaging which means the DRAM sits beneath the SoC.

M-series chips have the DRAM on the same substrate as the SoC which means it gets the necessary cooling for the high speed memory.

You won’t see M-series in iPhone, not until there’s foldables or something with a big logic board.

 

[JPack]

To give everyone an idea of how little space there is, the M3 package is about 50% larger in width and height.

 

[Basic75]

It isn’t M3 lite with it’s NPU twice as powerful as M3’s.

By that argument the A9X is not an upgrade over the A9 because it hasn't got an L3 cache?

 

[Torty]

By that argument the A9X is not an upgrade over the A9 because it hasn't got an L3 cache?

The A9X got the cores from A8? If no then it's not a good example.

 

[Ctrlos]

I won't be surprised if they do eventually put a low power M series derivative into iPhone just for marketing purposes. All the decent product designers left the building and there's only so many times thinner bezels and an even uglier camera cluster can sell the same phone.

The iPhone is a design classic. It doesn't need to change.

I don't remember seeing anybody on the Colarumors forums wanting the iconic coca-cola bottle to be redesigned.