Apple plans to support the iPhone 15 series and its Mac devices that will be announced in 2023 with its latest processors, which will work with a manufacturing accuracy of 3 nanometers.
Apple’s new processors
And although the Korean giant Samsung beat TSMC and was the first to manufacture processors with a precision of 3 nm. However, Apple chose TSMC rather than Samsung to manufacture its upcoming M3 and A17 chips.
And the transition to processors with a manufacturing accuracy of 3 nm, will be the first transition from Apple, where its processors were working with a manufacturing accuracy of 5 nm.
The nanometer size on the chip refers to the width between transistors. The smaller size allows for more transistors which may result in better performance. Macs with M1 and M2 processors contain 5nm chips.
While the iPhone 14 Pro, which was unveiled a few days ago, features an A16 processor that works with a 4 nanometer manufacturing accuracy. Of course, the A16 processor was not manufactured using 4nm manufacturing accuracy, but it can be said that it is an improved processor with 5nm accuracy.
Although TSMC makes the latest Apple processors, the iPhone maker still needs the Korean giant. Samsung supplies Apple with the FC-BGA package for CPUs and graphics.
Samsung has invested about $1 billion to build FC-BGA packages in Vietnam, meaning that it may continue to co-manufacture Apple’s future chipsets. Or even supplying both the iPhone maker and TSMC with certain components.
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According to TSMC, N3E (the company’s proprietary manufacturing technology) is better than the previous method because it makes processors with better performance and higher power efficiency.
Finally, the iPads, which will also be launched in 2023, may contain 3nm processors. But these chips will be manufactured using TSMC’s first generation manufacturing process.