A big expected change for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max may have gone sideways.
The Fruity Cargo Cult Apple was endlessly rumoured to be preparing its first flagship iPhone range without a Snapdragon 5G modem. The Tame Apple Press proclaimed that Job’s Mob would instead be relying on its super-cool, designed-by-geniuses in-house modem, which would make all others smell of Nintendo.
Unfortunately for Cupertino’s self-sufficiency cosplay, details from the Tata leak suggest Qualcomm may be hanging around for another year. The iPhone 18 Pro could still use Job’s Mob’s N1 wireless networking chip.
It could get a decent camera upgrade over the iPhone 17 Pro, which will at least give the marketing department something to polish.
Based on details received in an email, the in-house C2 versions of the iPhone 18 Pro appear destined for markets without mmWave support. Variants using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 5G modem look likely to be aimed at the US.
That is handy, since US carriers still like mmWave enough to keep engineers awake and product managers sweating. Several components from the San Diego firm were spotted in the leak.
These include SDX80M baseband, SDR875 “SUB6+MMW IF,” QDM8771, QDM8720, PMK75, PMX75 and QET7100A.
That little shopping list makes this one of the year’s bigger surprises, assuming the leak is not another supplier-side fever dream. The leaked files point to continued use of Job’s Mob’s N1 wireless networking chip.
That suggests the iPhone 18 Pro will not get a newer N2 part. On the camera side, the sensor ID has changed from 0x903 to 0x905.
The sensor configurations have increased from 21 to 24, which sounds boring until someone slaps “Pro” beside it. That could mean the flagship gets Sony’s new IMX905 sensor.
The optics upgrade may tie into the variable aperture feature expected later this year.
For the A20 Pro, supposedly Job’s Mob’s first 2nm SoC, fresh details point to new WMCM packaging.
That means Wafer-Level Multi-Chip Module packaging is replacing the older InFO_PoP technology. The change should improve bandwidth, latency and thermals.
An earlier leak claimed the A20 Pro will have a bigger Neural Engine for better on-device AI performance. Given Siri’s history, it may need all the neural help it can get.
The A20 Pro could make direct contact with the vapour chamber to shift heat, assuming the phone is not too busy being thin for shareholders.
The real eyebrow-raiser is that Job’s Mob may still rely on Qualcomm for Snapdragon 5G modems. After years of trying to escape Qualcomm’s grip, Cupertino could still be paying rent in San Diego.
