When you’re attempting to determine if you happen to’re going to put money into a new iPhone 17 this fall, we all the time prefer to remind YOU that one thing higher is all the time coming quickly. The newest report from the longer term comes from analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities, who offers perception on the A20 chip that shall be used within the iPhone 18 subsequent 12 months.
TSMC, Apple’s chip producer, is utilizing an enhanced 3nm course of for the A19 chip on this 12 months’s iPhone 17, based on a number of studies. Studies say this would be the final chip to make use of the 3nm course of, as TSMC will transfer to 2nm for the A20 within the iPhone 18 Professional and the rumored folding iPhone. In line with Pu, TSMC will make the A20 utilizing Wafer-Stage Multi-Chip Module (WMCM) packaging, the place the elements of the chip are built-in into the chip on the wafer stage. This is able to permit for, say, the A20’s RAM to be built-in with the CPU, GPU, Neural Engine, and different wafer-level elements. That is totally different from the present technique of utilizing a silicon interposer to attach the RAM.
With the RAM nearer to the CPU and different chip elements, this might lead to improved energy effectivity and a lower in working temperature, which might present advantages for battery life. It might additionally make the bodily measurement of the A20 smaller, which once more, would assist with energy effectivity, and will additionally profit the general design of the iPhone 18–particularly the folding iPhone, which can encompass two skinny sides that fold right into a thicker one.
Pu studies mentioned that the 2nm course of entails switching from fin field-effect transistors (FinFET) to gate-all-around field-effect transistors (GAAFET). The change ought to permit for an enchancment in efficiency with higher energy effectivity, but it surely’s unclear if the impact on energy effectivity could be even larger due to the WMCM packaging.
The nanometer course of refers back to the manufacturing of the chip, and 2nm permits for elevated transistor density over the earlier 3nm and 5nm processes. The upper the transistor density, the higher the efficiency, and the method may also lead to higher energy effectivity. Apple’s first 3nm was the A17 Professional, which debuted within the iPhone 15 Professional and Professional Max.
