[rumor] Apple A16 Bionic For TSMC To Reuse 5nm Process

Because of the chip scarcity, it’s been speculated that Apple may employ distinct chipsets for the non-Pro iPhone 14 models and the iPhone 14 Pro devices, which are expected to be released in September. In most cases, Apple utilises the same processor for all of its high-end iPhone models in a given year. However, the epidemic has resulted in a chip scarcity. Apple would have utilised the A16 Bionic for all four iPhone 14 models if this had been a typical year.

However, the more expensive iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max will most likely be powered by TSMC’s A16 Bionic processor. The A15 Bionic processor seen in last year’s iPhone 13 series is believed to be used in the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Max. Originally, the A16 Bionic was anticipated to employ TSMC’s 4nm manufacturing node.

source A16 Bionic to TSMC using its 5nm process node

The number of transistors that can fit into a tight area grows as the process node shrinks, which is crucial since the more transistors driving a chipset, the more powerful and energy-efficient the chip becomes.

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However, “a reasonably solid source,” tells Apple tipster @ShrimpApplePro that the A16 Bionic will be built on TSMC’s improved 5nm manufacturing node rather than the predicted 4nm node. Take this news with a grain of MSG, adds the informant, who points out how unlikely it is that TSMC will stay at 5nm for the A16 Bionic (monosodium glutamate).

According to a “pretty reputable source,” the A16 Bionic will sport enhancements to the CPU, LPDDR5 RAM, and a better GPU (graphics chip). Apple may use a 5nm A16 Bionic chip for non-Pro models and a 4nm A16 Pro Bionic processor for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, according to reports. The reality is unless you’re a die-hard smartphone fan, you probably have no idea whose chipset powers your phone or how many transistors are packed into that component within your phone.

A15 Bionic chipset from Apple has 15 billion transistors

You might be surprised to find that each chip in the A15 Bionic has 15 billion transistors. That seems fantastic until you consider that the Apple M1 Ultra chipset (which is built by merging two M1 Max chipsets) has 114 billion transistors. Consider that the first iPhone’s processor was manufactured by Samsung on their 90nm production node and had a 412 MHz single-core ARM11 CPU.

A 6.1-inch iPhone 14, a 6.7-inch iPhone Max (replacing the small), a 6.1-inch iPhone 14 Pro, and a 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Pro Max will be available in 2022. The Pro versions will feature superior cameras and come with a 120Hz refresh rate ProMotion display. And, of course, how could we forget? The notch will remain on the iPhone 14 range, but the Pro models will include pill and hole-punch cuts, which will replace the notch on Apple’s high-end 2022 phones.

According to the latest reports, Apple will debut the new iPhone 14 series on September 13th, along with three Apple Watch models and the AirPods Pro 2. On the Pro versions, storage options might start at 256GB and go up to 2TB. Apple, on the other hand, normally waits two years before making such adjustments. With that in mind, we anticipate the Pro configuration possibilities remaining in the 128GB to 1TB range for another year.

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