Apple model number lookup: A-code to iPhone and iPad

If you have an Apple A-code (the AXXXX number on the back of an iPhone or iPad) and you want to know which model it identifies, scroll to the reference table. Everything between here and there is the why and how.

Three Apple identifiers, one source of truth

Apple does not use a single model identifier. A given iPhone or iPad has three different codes that mean three different things, and most public conversation about "the model number" runs them together. They are not the same.

• Model Number, e.g. MT532B/A. This is the value that shows up first in Settings → General → About → Model Number. It encodes Apple's regional sales SKU, storage tier, colour and finish. Two units of the same physical device sold in different regions or colours have different Model Numbers.
• A-code (also called the "A model number"), e.g. A2101. This is the identifier 51Degrees uses across its device database as the primary key for an Apple model. There are fewer A-codes than Model Numbers because the A-code abstracts away storage, colour and SKU; it only changes with the radio band variant a particular unit ships with.
• Model Identifier, e.g. iPhone11,6. This is the developer-facing identifier Apple uses internally and exposes through iTunes and the iOS SDK. It maps roughly one-to-one with the physical hardware revision.

An iPhone XS Max, for example, has Model Number MT532B/A, A-code A2101, and Model Identifier iPhone11,6. All three refer to the same device. They are useful for different things.

The A-code is the one this page is about. It is the code most likely to be on a physical Apple device you have in front of you, because it is the one Apple prints or engraves on the case.

Where the A-code lives on the device

• Physically on the device. Look at the back of an iPhone or iPad and you will find Model AXXXX printed in small text near the bottom, either on a sticker (older devices) or laser-etched into the casing (newer devices).
• In Settings. Open Settings → General → About. The Model Number row initially shows the regional Model Number (the MXXXX/X code). Tap it once and the value flips to the A-code (AXXXX). Tap again to flip back.
• On the box. The retail box prints the A-code next to the barcode on the underside label.

The Settings trick is the easiest to demonstrate to someone over a call. The physical printing is the most useful when the device cannot power on.

Why one A-code can identify more than one device

Looking at the table below, you will spot rows where the same A-code maps to the same device name twice, or where one device name shows up against several A-codes. Both are deliberate.

A single A-code can identify what Apple sells as several distinct devices when the variants are essentially the same hardware in different radio configurations. The iPhone 3G and iPhone 4 each appear against multiple A-codes for this reason: Apple shipped GSM and CDMA radio variants of the same physical phone, and each variant got its own A-code. The device name 51Degrees returns is the same because the variants are functionally identical to a web developer looking at a User-Agent.

The reverse case (one device name against many A-codes) is the more common pattern. Most iPhone and iPad models ship in three or four radio band variants for the global, US, Chinese and Japanese markets respectively. Each radio band variant gets its own A-code while still being marketed as the same phone.

The reference table

Below is every A-code in the 51Degrees database, grouped by Apple product family and sorted by A-code within each family. As of this article's publish date the table covers 424 A-codes identifying 115 unique devices.

iPhone

iPad

iPod

Other

The table will change

Apple releases new devices roughly every September and new iPad models throughout the year, and every release introduces new A-codes. The table above is generated from the current 51Degrees Apple model database; when Apple ships a new iPhone or iPad, the 51Degrees data team tests the device, captures its A-code along with the rest of its detection signal, and the table updates the next time the website builds.

The testing matters because Apple deliberately makes it hard for the open web to distinguish one iPhone or iPad model from another. The User-Agent strings Apple's mobile browsers send are stable across a model generation and across many models, so a device's exact identity has to be inferred from a combination of less obvious signals (screen size, render characteristics, performance benchmarks, client hints) measured against a known set of test cases. The A-code is the primary key 51Degrees uses to tie that test data back to a marketable device name. Every time a new A-code appears in the wild, somebody at 51Degrees runs that physical device through the test procedure before it goes into the dataset.

Looking this up programmatically

If you need to resolve an A-code to a device name in code (or to resolve a full device by any of the signals an Apple device exposes), this is what 51Degrees device detection does. The A-code mapping above is one slice of a much larger dataset that takes raw HTTP request signals (User-Agent, client hints, HTTP/2 fingerprints) and returns precise device, OS and hardware-capability information.

See the device detection product page for the full feature set, or jump straight to the User-Agent tester to drop a real-world UA string in and see the resolved device.