For over a decade, Apple has designed its silicon processors for use initially in their mobile devices and this has been expanded to other hardware over time.
In April 2008, Apple acquired the company P.A. Semi which designed semiconductors. This allowed Apple to use this engineering workforce to assist with the processor range they would start using in 2010. The original iPad (2010) was the first Apple device to use Apple’s processor (the A4).
Having control over the processors, they can update as and when they want to, they do not need to wait for the chip manufacturer to revise and pass the technology down.
Johny Srouji manages the Apple processors and is Senior Vice President of Hardware Technologies at Apple.
“A” Series System On a Chip (SoC)
A4 – iPad (2010), iPhone 4 (2010), iPod touch 4th gen (2010), Apple TV 2nd gen (2010)
A5 – iPhone 4s (2011), iPad2 (2011), iPad mini (2012), iPod touch 5th gen (2012), Apple TV 3rd gen (2012)
A6 – iPhone 5 (2012), iPad 3rd gen (2012)
A7 – iPhone 5s (2013), iPad Air (2013), iPad mini 2 (2013), iPad mini 3 (2014)
A8 – iPhone 6 (2014), iPhone 6 Plus (2014), iPad mini 4 (2015), iPod touch 6th gen (2015), Apple TV 4th gen (2015), HomePod 1st gen (2018)
A9 – iPhone 6s (2015), iPhone 6s Plus (2015), iPhone SE (2016), iPad 5th gen (2017)
A10 Fusion (16 nm) – iPhone 7 (2016), iPhone 7 Plus (2016), iPad 6th gen (2018), iPad 7th gen (2019), iPad Touch 7th gen (2019)
A11 Bionic (10 nm) – iPhone 8 (2017), iPhone 8 Plus (2017), iPhone X (2017)
A12 Bionic (7 nm) – iPhone Xs (2018), iPhone Xs Max (2018), iPhone Xr (2018), iPad Air 3 (2019), iPad mini (2019), iPad 8th gen (2020), Apple TV 4K (2021)
A13 Bionic (7 nm) – iPhone 11 (2019), iPhone 11 Pro (2019), iPhone 11 Pro Max (2019), iPhone SE 2nd gen (2020), iPad 9th gen (2021), Apple Studio Display (2022)
A14 Bionic (5 nm) – iPad Air 4 (2020), iPhone 12 (2020), iPhone 12 Mini (2020), iPhone 12 Pro (2020), iPhone 12 Pro Max (2020)
A15 Bionic (5 nm) – iPad mini 6 (2021), iPhone 13 (2021), iPhone 13 Mini (2021), iPhone 13 Pro (2021), iPhone 13 Pro Max (2021), iPhone SE 3 (2022), iPhone 14 (2022), iPhone 14 Plus (2022), Apple TV 4K 3rd gen (2022)
A16 Bionic (4 nm) – iPhone 14 Pro (2022), iPhone 14 Pro Max (2022), iPhone 15 (2023), iPhone 15 Plus (2023)
A17 Pro (3 nm) – iPhone 15 Pro (2023), iPhone 15 Pro Max (2023), iPad mini 7th gen (2024)
A18 (3 nm) – iPhone 16 (2024), iPhone 16 Plus (2024)
A18 Pro (3 nm) – iPhone 16 Pro (2024), iPhone 16 Pro Max (2024)
Separate higher-performance processors are used in some iPads, especially providing higher graphics performance
A5X – iPad 3rd gen (2012)
A6X – iPad 4th gen (2012)
A8X – iPad Air 2 (2014)
A9X – iPad Pro 12.9 inch (2015), iPad Pro 9.7 inch (2016)
A10X Fusion – iPad Pro 10.5 inch (2017), iPad Pro 12.9 inch (2017), Apple TV 4K (2017)
A12X Bionic – iPad Pro 11 inch (2018), iPad Pro 12.9 inch (2018)
A12Z Bionic – iPad Pro 11 inch (2020), iPad Pro 12.9 inch (2020), Mac ARM Developer Transition Kit (2020)
H1 – AirPods (2019) – enabling Hey Siri support, AirPods Pro (2019), AirPods Max (2020), AirPods (2021)
H2 – AirPods Pro (2022)
“M” Series System on a Chip (SoC) inside Apple Silicon Mac computers and some iPads
M1 – MacBook Air (2020), MacBook Pro 13 inch (2020), Mac mini (2020), iMac 24 inch (2021), iPad Pro 11 inch (2021), iPad Pro 12.9 inch (2021), iPad Air 5 (2022)
M1 Pro – MacBook Pro 14 inch (2021), MacBook Pro 16 inch (2021)
M1 Max – MacBook Pro 14 inch (2021), MacBook Pro 16 inch (2021), Mac Studio (2022)
M1 Ultra – Mac Studio 1st gen (2022)
M2 – MacBook Air (2022), MacBook Pro 13 inch (2022), iPad Pro 11 inch 6th gen (2022), iPad Pro 12.9 inch 6th gen (2022), Mac mini (2023), Apple Vision Pro (2024)
M2 Pro – MacBook Pro 14 inch / 16 inch (2023), Mac mini (2023)
M2 Max – MacBook Pro 14 inch / 16 inch (2023), Mac Studio (2023)
M2 Ultra – Mac Studio 2nd gen (2023), Mac Pro (2023)
M3 – MacBook Pro 14 inch (2023), iMac 14 inch (2023), MacBook Air (2024)
M3 Pro – MacBook Pro 14 inch / 16 inch (2023)
M3 Max – MacBook Pro 14 inch / 16 inch (2023)
M4 – iPad Pro (2024), iMac (2024), Mac Mini (2024), MacBook Pro (2024)
M4 Pro – Mac Mini (2024), MacBook Pro (2024)
M4 Max – MacBook Pro (2024)
Motion Coprocessors (initially separate but now fully integrated into the SoC)
M7 – with A7 (2013)
M8 – with A8 / A8X (2014)
M9 – with A9 / A9X (2015)
M10 – with A10 Fusion / A10X Fusion (2016)
M11 – with A11 Bionic (2017)
R1 – Apple Vision Pro (2023)
“S” System in a Package (SiP) series of processors has been used in all of the Apple Watches
S1 – Apple Watch 1st gen (2015)
S1P – Apple Watch Series 1 (2016)
S2 – Apple Watch Series 2 (2016)
S3 – Apple Watch Series 3 (2017)
S4 – Apple Watch Series 4 (2018)
S5 – Apple Watch Series 5 (2019), Apple Watch SE 1st gen (2020), HomePod Mini (2020)
S6 – Apple Watch Series 6 (2020)
S7 – Apple Watch Series 7 (2021), HomePod 2nd gen (2023)
S8 – Apple Watch Series 8 (2022), Apple Watch SE 2nd gen (2022), Apple Watch Ultra (2022)
S9 – Apple Watch Series 9 (2023), Apple Watch Ultra 2 (2023)
S10 – Apple Watch Series 10 (2024)
T1 – MacBook Pro (2016 / 2017) used by Touch ID sensor
T2 – iMac Pro (2017), MacBook Pro (2018), MacBook Air (2018), Mac mini (2018), MacBook Pro (2019), MacBook Air (2019), Mac Pro (2019), MacBook Air (2020) used for security during boot and managing the Facetime HD camera
U1 – iPhone 11 (2019), iPhone 11 Pro (2019), iPhone 11 Pro Max (2019), Apple Watch Series 6 (2020), Apple Watch Series 7 (2021), AirTag (2021), used for spatial awareness, iPhone 12 series (2020), iPhone 13 series (2021)
W1 – AirPods (2016), HomePod (2018) used for Bluetooth connectivity
W2 – Apple Watch Series 3 (2017)
W3 – Apple Watch Series 4 (2018), Apple Watch Series 5 (2019), Apple Watch Series 6 (2020), Apple Watch SE (2020), Apple Watch Series 7 (2021), Apple Watch Series 8 (2022), Apple Watch SE (2022), Apple Watch Ultra supporting Bluetooth 5.x
Luckily, Apple has many letters of the alphabet remaining!