Unlocking the Secrets of Chip Binning: How Apple's A18 Variants are Crafted

The iPhone 16e uses a variant of the A18 chip that differs from the one used in the iPhone 16. This difference can be attributed to a process known as chip binning, which allows for the utilization of chips with minor defects by deactivating faulty components. Chip binning helps maximize production yields and ensures that all manufactured chips are utilized efficiently. For example, if an A18 chip has a defective GPU core out of five, Apple can deactivate that core, making it suitable for use in the iPhone 16e while reserving fully functional chips for the iPhone 16. This practice is not new; Apple and other chip manufacturers like Intel and AMD have used it to manage supply and differentiate product tiers. In some cases, Apple has purposefully binned perfectly healthy chips to create performance differences between devices, such as deactivating one GPU core in the A18 for the iPhone 16e to maintain a performance gap with the iPhone 16.