As the anticipated launch of the upcoming iPhone 17 line approaches, Weibo leaker Fixed Focus Digital reports that the iPhone 17 Air will feature the binned variant of the A19 Pro chip, and that would be with 5 GPU cores. On the other hand, only the iPhone 17 Pro models will feature the full-fledged A19 Pro chip with 6 GPU cores enabled while the standard iPhone 17 will utilize the base A19 chip.
Apple’s decision for the iPhone 17 Air means two things:
- Apple could use binned variants based on yields, similar to with the iPad Pro (M4), 13-inch MacBook Air, and 24-inch iMac
- It’s due to thermal constraints since the iPhone 17 Air will feature an ultra-thin design, hence a smaller battery, so Apple could run the chip a little bit slower similar to how Apple handled NVIDIA graphics processors on the 2008 MacBook Air (way back in the Intel era).
Apple has been using both binned and full-fledged variants of its system-on-a-chips across multiple iPhone models within a series:
- A15: iPhone 13 (4-core GPU) and iPhone 13 Pro (5-core GPU)
- A18: iPhone 16e (4-core GPU) and iPhone 16 (5-core GPU)
Today’s report contradicted Ming-Chi Kuo’s claim that the iPhone 17 Air would use the standard A19 chip from a year ago. Jeff Pu previously claimed that the base iPhone 17 could stick with the A18 chip for another year, and he since rescinded that rumor, so his expectations are in line with this report.
Fixed Focus Digital was correct in predicting that Apple’s next “budget” iPhone would be called the “iPhone 16e” several months ahead of its launch.
The iPhone 17 series is expected to make its debut on Tuesday, September 9, so it will be really soon to find out all the official details.
