Apple has introduced the A20 Pro as the processor for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. MacRumors reports that the chip is built on a 2nm process, making it the first smartphone processor from Apple to use that manufacturing technology.

Apple says the new chip uses a redesigned architecture with a six-core CPU and a six-core GPU. The company also lists a 16-core Neural Engine for machine-learning workloads and a 50 percent increase in memory bandwidth compared with the previous generation.

The chip is paired with a new vapor-chamber cooling system in the iPhone 18 Pro models. Apple says the chamber has three times the surface area of the prior design. That larger cooling area is meant to keep performance steadier during long workloads.

Apple’s product page claims up to 40 percent better sustained performance than the A19 Pro. Sustained performance matters when a phone is recording high-resolution video, processing photographs or running demanding games for more than a few minutes.

The company has not presented that figure as a universal speed increase. It describes a sustained-performance comparison, which is a narrower measure than a short benchmark burst. Real results will depend on software, temperature, network activity and the specific task.

The A20 Pro also supports Apple Intelligence features and the camera systems announced for the new phones. Apple lists a variable-aperture 48-megapixel main camera, a 48-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a telephoto camera on the Pro models.

MacRumors says the A20 Pro is part of a wider hardware change rather than an isolated chip launch. The iPhone 18 Pro models also use a new C2 modem, revised cooling and higher-bandwidth memory to support longer sessions.

Preorders for the iPhone 18 Pro begin September 12 at 5 a.m. Pacific Time. The phones are scheduled to arrive on September 18. The A20 Pro story will matter most to buyers who care about long workloads, not only a higher peak score in a brief test.