A20 Pro begins Apple's 2nm smartphone era

Apple's A20 Pro is now moving from announcement slides toward real consumer hardware as iPhone 18 Pro pre-orders continue. Manufactured on a 2nm-class process, the chip combines a six-core CPU, seven-core GPU and dual neural engines designed to accelerate Apple Intelligence workloads. Apple is also pairing the processor with improved cooling in the iPhone 18 Pro generation, an important decision because sustained performance has become more relevant than momentary benchmark peaks.

Mobile games, video processing and local AI can all keep a chip under load for extended periods, where heat becomes the limiting factor. A20 Pro also powers Apple's upcoming iPhone Duo foldable, meaning the same silicon must support larger displays and more ambitious multitasking. Competition will intensify quickly, with MediaTek preparing its next flagship processor and Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit approaching later this month.

The new smartphone chip cycle is increasingly about efficiency and specialised acceleration rather than CPU speed alone.