The iPhone will attain one other main milestone within the subsequent few years because it celebrates its twentieth anniversary. Whereas it’s unclear if Apple will do something particular to mark the event, the 2028 “iPhone 20” could possibly be set to get some of the groundbreaking chips that Apple has ever produced.
Final week, Apple chip-making companion TSMC unveiled its next-generation fabrication course of that can drop beneath the 2-nanometer (nm) node dimension for the primary time. Particularly, the brand new course of will undertake 1.4nm tech and signify a “vital development from TSMC’s industry-leading N2 course of.”
N2 is already bleeding-edge, with a 2nm course of anticipated for use for Apple’s A20 chips, which is able to seemingly go into the iPhone 18 subsequent 12 months. Nevertheless, the brand new 1.4nm course of is such a leap forward that TSMC has dropped its conventional “N” designations; the brand new era has a fairly complicated identify for Apple followers: A14.
That’s additionally the identify of the chip used within the iPhone 12, fourth-generation iPad Air, and 2022 iPad. It was manufactured utilizing TSMC’s first-generation 5nm course of and was the primary 5nm chip in the marketplace.
The 1.4nm chips promise a 15 p.c efficiency increase and a 30 p.c discount in energy consumption in comparison with the 2nm processors. Since these haven’t even gone into manufacturing but, meaning we’re taking a look at a lift of 30 p.c in efficiency and as much as 60 p.c effectivity over the present crop of 3nm chips utilized in at this time’s iPhones, iPads, and Macs. That might make the “iPhone 20” a veritable powerhouse whereas delivering unprecedented battery life.
To be clear, this announcement from TSMC doesn’t explicitly say that Apple will use the brand new 1.4nm course of. Nevertheless, contemplating the shut relationship between the 2 corporations and the variety of occasions Apple has been first in line for its new processes, it’s a secure guess that the “A22” chip anticipated in 2028 is on the record.
In spite of everything, Apple has been so keen to remain forward of the pack in chip applied sciences that it was additionally the primary to undertake TSMC’s early N3B 3nm course of, arguably earlier than it was prepared for prime time. The A17 Professional and M3 chips used the N3B node, which turned out to have severe yield issues. It by no means noticed a full rollout in Apple’s Macs, and the iPad Professional skipped it totally, leaping from the M2 straight to the M4.
The A17 Professional and M3 ended up being resurrected within the 2024 iPad mini and this 12 months’s iPad Air, however they’re not fairly the identical chips used within the iPhone 15 Professional and the M3 Macs. Totally different CPU/GPU core configurations counsel that Apple ended up with numerous “binned” chips from the N3B course of and is utilizing its mid-tier iPads to eliminate them.
The A18 and M4 chips are nonetheless 3nm processors, however Apple had these fabricated utilizing the extra steady N3E course of. Experiences counsel this 12 months’s A19 and A19 Professional may also use N3E, whereas the M5 is believed to be transferring to N3P, an enhanced model of TSMC’s 3nm node that ought to present 5% higher efficiency and a 5-10% improve in energy effectivity. Some reviews counsel the A20 might also follow N3P subsequent 12 months fairly than going to the newer N2 course of, however we’ll have to attend and see what occurs on that entrance, because it’s far too early to inform.
TSMC additionally introduced an “A16” 1.6nm course of final 12 months that’s anticipated to be prepared in 2026. There’s been no phrase about the place that can match into Apple’s plans, however newer reviews counsel that Apple is being extra cautious after its dangerous expertise with the early N3B 3nm course of. Experiences final 12 months predicted Apple would transfer to N2 for the A19, but it surely was mentioned to have delayed these plans as a result of prices and poor yields from the method because it stood.
These yields have reportedly improved, with analyst Ming-Chi Kuo sharing in March that trial yields at the moment are hitting nicely above 70% and that Apple is now glad sufficient with the N2 course of to undertake it for subsequent 12 months’s A20.
The bottom N2 course of is also adopted by enhanced variations, much like what occurred with N3B, N3E, and N3P. Nonetheless, with the A16 and A14 processes already within the combine, there could also be an impetus to shift clients like Apple into the sub-2nm processes.
Technically, the 2027 “iPhone 19” could be the mannequin that marks the twentieth anniversary of the iPhone, and the 1.6nm course of could possibly be prepared for the A21 chip going into that mannequin. In fact, until Apple chooses to do one thing distinctive, like what it did with the 2017 iPhone X, it’s a clumsy quantity to mark an anniversary with. If something, Apple might select to let the event go by with out a lot fanfare, because it did with the Apple Watch. Even the “iPhone X” was celebrated extra as an anniversary version by followers than by Apple.