Apple Will Use 5nm Processors For iPhones Starting 2020
Apple is best known for making premium smartphones which offer top of the charts performance. Though many other OEM’s have taken a lead in the design and optics department, none of them has even come close to the processing power Apple’s A-series of SoC’s have. Its latest chipset, the Apple A12 is reported to be a full generation ahead of Qualcomm and Huawei’s offering, the Snapdragon 855 and the Kirin 980 respectively. Fresh reports state that Apple is planning to use 5nm processors in iPhones starting the year 2020.
Apple’s 5nm Processors
Reports state that Apple’s chipset supplier, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company(TSMC) will announce its 5nm fabrication process in a few days. The event will take place on February 25 at the Mobile World Congress(MWC) in Barcelona. Apple will reportedly soon place an order for the manufacturing of 5nm chipsets which will be used in the 2020 iPhones. This chipset is expected to be called the A14 Bionic and would support 5G and enhanced machine learning capabilities.
Apple’s new 5nm chipsets will be made using a new technology called Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography, developed by TSMC. This technology would allow the company to pack more transistors in a confined space, making the chip smaller. This would then result in increased performance and efficiency of the new smartphones. TSMC claims that it will be able to mass produce these chipsets by 2020, confirming the reports. There were also reports claiming Apple would release a 5G iPhone next year. This device is expected to have an Intel modem to support the new communication standard.
Also read: Huawei’s Foldable Phone, The ‘Mate X’ Leaks
Apple was one of the first company’s to unveil a 7nm chipset, the A12 Bionic in 2018; when they announced the current generation of iPhones . Other chipset manufacturers, like Qualcomm and Huawei also started manufacturing SoC’s using the 7nm fabrication process; but their products weren’t at par with Apple’s offering. In almost all the benchmarks, the Apple A12 Bionic has the Kirin 980 and the Snapdragon 855 beat. Unlike Apple, the competition isn’t likely to switch to 5nm chipsets as soon as next year, so they may release devices with 5nm chips in or after the year 2021.
