Apple’s upcoming A19 chip, which will power the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air, as well as the A19 Pro chip dedicated to the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, will use TSMC’s third-generation 3nm engraving technology , called “N3P”, it will offer a better return according to Hong Kong analyst Jeff Pu in a recent research note to his clients.
A minor development
Currently, the A18 and A18 Pro chips in the iPhone 16 series are produced using TSMC’s second-generation 3nm process, called “N3E”. And to be completely complete on the subject, the A17 Pro chip, present in the iPhone 15 Pro models, was made with TSMC’s initial 3nm process, “N3B”.
The “N3P” process is an evolution of the N3E process, offering a denser arrangement of transistors, which should result in slight improvements in the performance and energy efficiency of the different iPhone 17s compared to its predecessor. Don’t expect a huge gain, but probably something on the order of 10-15% in CPU and GPU calculations. Unless Apple adds cores to its SoC.
Previous reports have suggested that mass production using the N3P process by TSMC is expected to begin in the second half of 2024. Others have suggested the move to 2nm as early as this year.
Finally, Apple plans to switch to TSMC’s 2nm technology for the A20 chips in the iPhone 18 range in 2026. It will probably be the first manufacturer to offer such cutting-edge processors, with ever higher performance, both in speed than in energy efficiency. We always dream of an iPhone that lasts several days without recharging.
Other new features of the iPhone 17
In terms of design, Pu reiterates that all iPhone 17 models will feature a more complex aluminum design than the iPhone 16 models. The iPhone 17 Pro Max will introduce a “shrinked Dynamic Island”, while the others models will keep the current component.
The smaller Dynamic Island of the iPhone 17 Pro Max is made possible by “metalens” technology for the proximity sensor. This “metalens” change has the potential to significantly reduce the size of the Face ID sensor. But the iPhone 17 Pro would not benefit from it, strange.
