Other A16 - Exclusive to iPhone 14 Pro series; How do you feel about it?

[Yebubbleman]

It's now official; the A16 is exclusive to the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, while the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus basically get the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max variant of A15. For those who were planning on upgrading this year, how do you feel about the non-Pro iPhone 14 series getting last year's processor at this year's prices?

 

[JPack]

The increase to 6GB RAM helps significantly as it's more practical for day to day use. Apple didn't even bother to mention how much faster A16 was compared to A15. They only compared it to A13, which tells you a lot.

 

[SoYoung]

Its a joke. At this point I don't know why they call it "14". Its not even close to a 13s version. Its more like an iPhone 13 refresh than anything else.

 

[CalMin]

Does CPU even matter in a phone any more? By the time it feels slow i would be on to something new.

 

[eyoungren]

It's now official; the A16 is exclusive to the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, while the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus basically get the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max variant of A15. For those who were planning on upgrading this year, how do you feel about the non-Pro iPhone 14 series getting last year's processor at this year's prices?

iBook => PowerBook

iMac => PowerMac

MacBook => MacBook Pro

iMac => MacPro

So Apple's finally gotten around to the iPhone with this. 🤷‍♂️

 

[snipr125]

It will be interesting to see if the A16 goes into an ipad model. The air and mini both got upgrades to M1 and A15, so they not due upgrades for at least a year.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Does CPU even matter in a phone any more? By the time it feels slow i would be on to something new.

If you're on a two or even three year refresh cycle, then I'd say it won't matter. But, if you're the kind of person that buys a phone and uses it into the ground, then I'd say it sort of sucks that, in order to maximize the supported lifetime of whatever currently-sold iPhone you buy, you have to go Pro.

iBook => PowerBook

iMac => PowerMac

MacBook => MacBook Pro

iMac => MacPro

So Apple's finally gotten around to the iPhone with this. 🤷‍♂️

I'd buy all that were it not for the fact that the A16 isn't a higher-grade of A15 in the way that M1 Pro is a higher-grade of M1 or in the way that M1 is a higher grade of A14, or in the way that A12X/Z is a higher grade of A12. A16 is A15's successor. Otherwise, I agree that they are being differentiating. And certainly, the way iPhone 13 got a 4 GPU core variant of A15 while iPhone 13 Pro got a 5 GPU core variant of A15 lends itself to what you're saying here. But in this particular case, it wasn't that iPhone 14 got a lower-grade of A16 than iPhone 14 Pro did; it straight up got iPhone 13 Pro's SoC from last year instead.

It will be interesting to see if the A16 goes into an ipad model. The air and mini both got upgrades to M1 and A15, so they not due upgrades for at least a year.

Definitely something I'm wondering too. Apple has already positioned the Air and Pros to have the standard M-series chips (with Pros getting them a fair amount of time before Airs do, if the M1 implementation of both lines is any indication), so it'd be left to the iPad mini and standard model iPad to stick with A-series.

If Apple wants to bring the kinds of power and multi-tasking available in the M1 iPad Air to all full-sized iPads, then the only iPad to still get A-series chips would be the iPad mini. At that point, it's kind of up to Apple to determine what kind of end user experience the iPad mini is supposed to have when compared to iPhones and 10.2+" iPads. I could go either way on whether the iPad mini ought to join the Air and Pro (and presumably standard iPad) or whether it ought to be a distinct subset and/or more closely related to what one gets on a larger iPhone. It already seems like Apple is creating that division. Though, in all fairness, the iPad mini is the one iPad where I don't find myself wishing iPadOS did more on it.

 

[CalMin]

If you're on a two or even three year refresh cycle, then I'd say it won't matter. But, if you're the kind of person that buys a phone and uses it into the ground, then I'd say it sort of sucks that, in order to maximize the supported lifetime of whatever currently-sold iPhone you buy, you have to go Pro.

Agree. I suppose from Apple's perspective the customer has to decide if a bit of extra longevity is worth the extra cost. That said these phones have a long life span. iPhone 8's are still getting iOS 16 - from 2017 (5-years). I suspect the 14 base models will be similarly long.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Agree. I suppose from Apple's perspective the customer has to decide if a bit of extra longevity is worth the extra cost. That said these phones have a long life span. iPhone 8's are still getting iOS 16 - from 2017 (5-years). I suspect the 14 base models will be similarly long.

I'm sure it will be long, but the A11 in the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and original X was as new as the OS it launched on. The A15 is not in line with that. Ultimately, it's up to Apple's software teams as to how long they want to support A15, but even at best, one would've gotten more longevity out of an iPhone 13 than a 14; unless the 4GB vs. 6GB of RAM divider is what will make a difference. Although, at that point, if Apple maintains this release strategy/cadence, maybe the non-Pro iPhone just gets the SoC found in the previous year's Pro model iPhone. I'd say that's probably okay, but given that it wasn't this drastic in last year's iPhone 13/13 Pro cycle, and not really different at all in 2020's iPhone 12/12 Pro cycle, this change seems...needless? Or just some way in which Apple can squeeze even more money out of iPhone customers.

 

[aenflex]

I actually think it’s fine for the current year’s base model to get the previous year’s pro model’s processor. That said, I stick with the pro models anyway, so I’m not concerned about what’s going on with the base models. And honestly, apart from planned obsolescence, I’m not sure I’d even notice much difference between my 13 pro and the 14 pro when it arrives.

 

[xxray]

It makes sense. iPhones are getting more mature and harder to differentiate features between Pro vs non-Pro. Apple is already so much farther ahead with their processors. The general public, who is more likely to buy the 14, won’t care nor notice. Hell, I wouldn’t notice the difference if you gave me two exact same phones except one A15 and one A16. I was always surprised when Apple would give their top of the line processor to the iPhone SE just 6 months after flagship release.

 

[menist]

I daily drive pretty much all 13 models, before settling on my 13PM. Its a slap in the face seeing 14 gets the 13pros A15. A15 with 6GB ram should of been on all iPhone 13 models imo.

 

[Yebubbleman]

I daily drive pretty much all 13 models, before settling on my 13PM. Its a slap in the face seeing 14 gets the 13pros A15. A15 with 6GB ram should of been on all iPhone 13 models imo.

Agreed. 6GB of RAM will likely be a dividing line at some point.