Apple"s current-gen A11 Bionic chip is a six-core beast that powers the iPhone 8 and iPhone X handsets. A new report is claiming that an eight-core version of the chip, dubbed A11X, is in the works and will power next year"s iPad Pros that have Face ID.
The report, from Taiwanese site MyDrivers, claims that supply chains in the country said the new chip will have three Monsoon performance cores and five Mistral high-efficiency cores, coupled with an M11 motion coprocessor with the A11"s neural processing unit. It is also said that the chip will use Taiwan Semiconductor"s 7nm manufacturing process, which would be a first for Apple. The current iPhone lineup uses a 10nm process.
It has been speculated that next year"s iPad Pros will come standard with the iPhone X"s TrueDepth Camera Face ID system. The new units are expected to keep an LCD screen with smaller bezels and the elimination of the Touch ID home button in favor of the new facial recognition technology.
Source: MyDrivers via AppleInsider