Last week brought us the great news that next year, Apple will no longer treat the vanilla iPhone models to last-year’s Pro processor. Sort of.
The iPhone 16’s A18 chip means less fragmentation
Remember how Apple used to play the Fragmentation card every time it wanted to talk Android down? Well, this recent trend of releasing sibling iPhone models with different SoCs and other hardware capabilities is making us wonder if we aren’t in for a bout of fragmentation, but this time happening in Apple’s courtyard.
Not only has Apple’s iPhone line-up split into 4 distinct models now (not counting the SE), but having different performance and camera features has made things even more complex. If this differentiation goes further, Apple might find itself in a tricky situation.
For starters, further iPhone model differentiation (ahem, fragmentation) could make it tough for consumers to pick the best model for them. And it’s not out of the question that forcing users through this whole exercise of exploring, comparing features, specs, models, etc., might expose them to alternative products on the market. I’m not sure if that would be an outcome Apple would enjoy.
But having to maintain increasingly different hardware models would also make things difficult for Apple as well. Every little difference needs to be accounted for whenever developing new iOS software, or maintaining current one. Let’s not forget that a tightly integrated hardware-software ship has been Apple’s biggest advantage all along. As the hardware portfolio diversifies, this strength will naturally be compromised.
And, perhaps most obvious, but having less differentiation between iPhone models naturally means a more consistent user experience, which is generally a good thing. Because, if this fragmentation continues, it wouldn’t be unthinkable to have apps that work on Pro iPhones, but are unsupported on vanilla iPhones.
Such an outcome would definitely suck. We’re already seeing a fragment of such a reality, with desktop-level games like Resident Evil Village being supported only on the iPhone 15 Pro, but not the iPhone 15.
It’s a fine line between one-size-fits-all and unproductive fragmentation, but the current rumors that the iPhone 16 line will all come with 3nm N3E A18 chips, be them slightly different, does make me cautiously optimistic that Apple’s got it under control for now.
