iPhone 16 Rumored to Feature 'Significantly' Upgraded Neural Engine for iOS 18's Generative AI Features

Apple's next-generation A18 and M4 chips for future iPhone and Mac models will feature an upgraded Neural Engine with "significantly" more cores, according to a report today from the Taiwanese publication Economic Daily News.

iOS 18 Mock iPhone 16 Feature Gray
An upgraded Neural Engine would improve performance for AI/machine learning tasks. iOS 18 is rumored to have new generative AI features for Siri, Shortcuts, Messages, Apple Music, and more. On an earnings call this month, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company was working on generative AI and would share details "later this year." iOS 18 should be announced at Apple's annual developers conference WWDC in June.

A18 series chips are expected to debut in iPhone 16 models in September. It was previously rumored that some generative AI features could be exclusive to iPhone 16 models, and the upgraded Neural Engine could be a reason why.

Neural Engine history for iPhones:

  • 2-core Neural Engine in the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X
  • 8-core Neural Engine in the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR
  • 8-core Neural Engine in the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max
  • 16-core Neural Engine in all iPhone 12 models
  • 16-core Neural Engine in all iPhone 13 models
  • 16-core Neural Engine in all iPhone 14 models
  • 16-core Neural Engine in all iPhone 15 models

Apple has still improved the Neural Engine's performance over the years, even when core counts have not changed. For example, Apple says the iPhone 15 Pro's A17 Pro chip has up to a 2x faster Neural Engine compared to the one in the iPhone 14 Pro.

As for the Mac, most models with Apple silicon chips are equipped with a 16-core Neural Engine. The only exceptions are the Mac Studio and the Mac Pro, which feature a 32-core Neural Engine when configured with an M1 Ultra or M2 Ultra chip.

The first Macs with an M4 chip would likely be released in late 2024 or early 2025.

Generative AI surged in popularity in 2022 after OpenAI released ChatGPT, a chatbot that can respond to questions and other prompts. Google, Microsoft, and other companies have also released similar chatbots and tools, including ones that can automatically generate images, respond to voice queries, and more.

Related Roundup: iPhone 16
Related Forums: iOS 18, iPadOS 18, iPhone

Popular Stories

iphone air thickness

Apple Said to Cut iPhone Air Production Amid Underwhelming Sales

Friday October 17, 2025 8:29 am PDT by
Apple plans to cut production of the iPhone Air amid underwhelming sales performance, Japan's Mizuho Securities believes (via The Elec). The Japanese investment banking and securities firm claims that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are seeing higher sales than their predecessors during the same period last year, while the standard iPhone 17 is a major success, performing...
iOS 26 Feature

iOS 26.1 to iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Saturday October 18, 2025 11:00 am PDT by
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across the Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, Clock, and Safari apps. More features and changes will follow in future ...
iOS 26

iOS 26.0.2 Update for iPhones Coming Soon

Friday October 17, 2025 7:35 am PDT by
Apple's software engineers continue to internally test iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions. iOS 26.0.2 will be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet. The update will likely be released by the end of next week. Last month, Apple released iOS 26.0.1,...
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple's Next Rumored Products: New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and More

Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year. The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

New 14-Inch MacBook Pro Has Two Key Upgrades Beyond the M5 Chip

Thursday October 16, 2025 8:31 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with an M5 chip, and there are two key storage-related upgrades beyond that chip bump. First, Apple says the new 14-inch MacBook Pro offers up to 2× faster SSD performance than the equivalent previous-generation model, so read and write speeds should get a significant boost. Apple says it is using "the latest storage technology," ...
Apple iPad Pro hero M5

New iPad Pro Has Six Key Upgrades Beyond M5 Chip

Saturday October 18, 2025 10:57 am PDT by
While the new iPad Pro's headline feature is the M5 chip, the device has some other changes, including N1 and C1X chips, faster storage speeds, and more. With the M5 chip, the new iPad Pro has up to a 20% faster CPU and up to a 40% faster GPU compared to the previous model with the M4 chip, according to Geekbench 6 results. Keep in mind that 256GB and 512GB configurations have a 9-core CPU,...
iPhone Siri Glow

Some Apple Employees Have 'Concerns' About iOS 26.4's Revamped Siri

Sunday October 19, 2025 7:39 am PDT by
iOS 26.4 is expected to introduce a revamped version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence, but not everyone is satisfied with how well it works. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said some of Apple's software engineers have "concerns" about the overhauled Siri's performance. However, he did not provide any specific details about the shortcomings. iOS 26.4 will...
m4 macbook air blue

M5 MacBook Air Coming Spring 2026 With M5 Mac Studio and Mac Mini in Development

Thursday October 16, 2025 3:57 pm PDT by
Apple plans to launch MacBook Air models equipped with the new M5 chip in spring 2026, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple is also working on M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models that will come early in the year. Neither the MacBook Pro models nor the MacBook Air models are expected to get design changes, with Apple focusing on simple chip upgrades. In the case of the MacBook Pro, a m...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

M5 Chip Achieves Impressive Feat in 14-Inch MacBook Pro Speed Test

Friday October 17, 2025 7:10 am PDT by
The first alleged benchmark result for the M5 chip in the new 14-inch MacBook Pro has surfaced, allowing for some performance comparisons. Based on a single unconfirmed result uploaded to the Geekbench 6 database today, the M5 chip has pulled off an impressive feat. Specifically, the chip achieved a score of 4,263 for single-core CPU performance, which is the highest single-core score that...

Top Rated Comments

vegetassj4 Avatar
22 months ago
We've packed the new iPhone 16 pro with the most neural cores ever. It's the most neurotic iPhone we've ever created.
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)
aidler Avatar
22 months ago
I fully expect Apple to put major AI features into iOS 18 and then make most of it only available on the iPhone 16, or probably only on the iPhone 16 Pro... because of... stuff ?
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
swiftapplefan Avatar
22 months ago
I still don’t believe that they’ll show exclusive features for a device that hasn’t even been announced yet. The iOS 18 Generative Features that’ll get announced at WWDC will be available to all devices that can run iOS 18. Any exclusive features will be announced in September, when the devices that can run those features will be announced. Unless, you know, Apple decides to randomly announce the iPhone 16 lineup at WWDC for some reason.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JCCL Avatar
22 months ago
Sounds like they found a excuse to withhold features from perfectly capable iPhone 14's and 15's (Pro/Max)
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
toobravetosave Avatar
22 months ago
just need an apple foldable and we can watch all the fanboys love everything they hated 5 years ago
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Antoniosmalakia Avatar
22 months ago
I’ll be mightily pissed off if the rumoured improvements to Siri are limited to new devices.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)