Apple has launched the iPhone 16 series devices that are powered by 3 nm-based A18 and A18 Pro chips. While Weibo tipster “Mobile chip expert” (translated from Chinese) previously suggested that the iPhone 17 lineup won’t use 2nm chips a new report from Business Times claims that TSMC’s 2-nanometer process will be mass-produced in 2025 and that Apple will be one of the first to adopt the new process node.
It is expected that the next generation A-series chip that will power the iPhone 17 lineup will be based on TSMC’s 2nm process node.
However, it’s unclear whether both the chips for Pro and non-Pro iPhones will be based on the 2-nm node. There’s a possibility that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models will be the first to be based on TSMC’s 2nm process node, while the non-Pro models will be based on a 3nm process. This shouldn’t be surprising as Apple has already used a generation-old chip on the next generation’s non-Pro models.
Compared to N3E (3nm), TSMC expects 2nm to improve performance by 10% to 15% at the same power, or reduce power consumption by 25% to 30% at the same frequency and complexity. So it could offer notable performance and power efficiency improvements to iPhone 17 Pro models. TSMC’s 2nm process reportedly adopts the leading nanosheet transistor structure, which will provide full-node performance and power advantages to meet the growing demand for energy-saving computing.
According to a previous leak, the iPhone 17 series will include a “Slim” model, that is expected to fill the performance gap between the Pro and non-Pro models.
Nonetheless, the adoption of a 2nm chip in the iPhone 17 lineup remains speculative. So, should you upgrade to the iPhone 16? There are several other important factors to consider before making that decision.
(Source)
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