Apple's Phil Schiller talks about the neural engine and other features of the A12 bionic chip in new iPhones on Sept. 12, 2018.

Apple's new devices will be powered by upgraded silicon for artificial intelligence that should, among other things, help you take higher-quality photos and videos.

The company said on Wednesday at its product showcase that the enhanced chips will be embedded in the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR. Apple is showing its ongoing commitment to specialized semiconductor design across its products, particularly in flagship smartphone.

Apple's neural engine for AI in the new A12 bionic chip is designed to deliver improved performance over last year's A11, which featured the debut of the neural engine in the iPhone X. Some of the software's key functions are helping quickly authenticate users with Face ID and tracking facial movements for Animojis, or animated selfie emojis.

The new engine has eight cores and can run 5 trillion operations per second, up from two cores and 600 billion operations in the previous version, Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, said at the event in Cupertino, California.