According to a report from The Information, Apple’s plans for the iPhone 14 Pro’s A16 Bionic chip were derailed by an “unprecedented” engineering snafu. The company had initially intended to include a next-generation GPU that supported ray tracing in the chip, but crucial design mistakes were discovered late in development. These mistakes reportedly stemmed from the silicon team’s ambition to add new features and resulted in the hardware drawing more power than expected, which would have negatively impacted battery life and caused overheating. As a result, Apple had to abandon its plans for the A16 and opt for a chip with a similar architecture to the A15 in the iPhone 13 Pro.
The report also shed light on broader issues within Apple’s silicon team, including the departure of talent to startups and rival chipmakers, and leadership changes that resulted in clashes with engineers. These challenges, along with the limitations of Moore’s law, have reportedly made it difficult for the team to deliver on its ambitious plans. Despite these setbacks, the iPhone 14 Pro’s A16 Bionic chip still offers improved performance and features over its predecessor and is sure to be popular with consumers.
