A respected industry analyst is pointing to two major technology upgrades coming to Apple’s next flagship chip, the A20 Pro—an SoC expected to power the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and Apple’s first foldable iPhone, often referred to as the iPhone Fold. If accurate, these changes could signal a meaningful jump in efficiency, stability, and overall performance across Apple’s 2026 iPhone lineup.
In a recent investor note, GF Securities analyst Jeff Pu said he expects Apple to ship around 250 million iPhones in 2026. That would represent roughly 2% year-over-year growth—modest on paper, but notable if the broader smartphone market remains under pressure. The bigger takeaway, however, is his claim that the A20 Pro will adopt two important manufacturing and component-level improvements that could help Apple extract more performance while keeping power use in check.
The first shift is a move to WMCM packaging, replacing the current InFO approach. WMCM is designed to bring multiple separate dies—such as the CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine—together into a single package. The practical benefit is flexibility: it opens the door to many more die configurations and can help Apple optimize space inside the phone. By removing the need for a traditional interposer or substrate and using Molding Underfill (MUF) to cut down on materials and process steps, this packaging approach may also improve manufacturing efficiency. Another key point is tighter integration, including reducing the need for separate components by integrating RAM directly into the module. In smartphones where every millimeter matters, reclaiming internal space can enable better thermal design, larger batteries, or other hardware upgrades.
The second upgrade involves the power delivery system. Pu believes the A20 Pro will use new super-high-performance metal-insulator-metal (SHPMIM) capacitors. These are said to deliver more than twice the capacitance density compared to the previous generation while also reducing sheet resistance and via resistance by about 50%. In real-world terms, that combination can translate into cleaner, more stable power delivery—often a quiet but crucial ingredient in sustained performance, efficiency, and reliability during demanding workloads like gaming, high-frame-rate video, and on-device AI tasks.
The same analyst note also outlines expected hardware details for the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and iPhone Fold.
On the display side, the iPhone 18 Pro is tipped to feature a 6.3-inch screen, while the iPhone 18 Pro Max could land at 6.9 inches. The foldable model is expected to use a 5.3-inch external display paired with a 7.8-inch internal display, with a wide, passport-style foldable design.
Camera expectations are equally ambitious. For the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, the forecast calls for an 18MP 6P front-facing camera, along with a 48MP 7P main camera that includes a variable aperture. The rear camera system is also said to include a 48MP periscope/telephoto lens and a 48MP 6P ultra-wide sensor—suggesting Apple may push further into high-resolution imaging across all major focal lengths.
For the iPhone Fold, the prediction includes two selfie cameras—an 18MP unit on the external display and another 18MP camera on the internal screen. On the back, the foldable is expected to feature a 48MP 7P main camera plus another 48MP 6P camera sensor.
Other rumored specifications include a smaller Dynamic Island on the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max while keeping Face ID, whereas the foldable model is said to use Touch ID instead. Materials may differ across the lineup as well: the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are expected to stick with an aluminum casing, while the foldable could use a blend of aluminum and titanium and potentially incorporate a liquid metal hinge.
Finally, all three devices are expected to use Apple’s C2 modem and come with LPD5 12GB RAM, which could support smoother multitasking and reinforce Apple’s focus on on-device intelligence and high-performance mobile computing.
While these details remain unconfirmed, the combination of a new packaging strategy and upgraded capacitors points to a deeper, more structural leap than a typical year-to-year chip revision. If the A20 Pro arrives with these changes, the iPhone 18 Pro line—and especially Apple’s first foldable iPhone—could see meaningful gains in performance, efficiency, and internal design flexibility.
