Apple to stick with 5nm for its A16 while the M2 will get a 3nm upgrade

According to rumoured leaks from Apple's supply chain, the A16 CPU for the iPhone 14 Pro variants may employ the same manufacturing procedure as the A15. In contrast, the new…

By Nivedita Bangari

May 28, 2022

2 min read

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According to rumoured leaks from Apple’s supply chain, the A16 CPU for the iPhone 14 Pro variants may employ the same manufacturing procedure as the A15. In contrast, the new M2 chip will reportedly use a 3-nanometer manufacturing technology rather than a 4-nanometer one. Even more fascinating is the possibility that Apple is developing a new M1 CPU model.

According to a tweet from ShrimpApplePro, a “very reliable source” has divulged TSMC’s upcoming manufacturing plans. TSMC produces all of Apple’s System-on-a-Chip (SoC) versions. The A14, A15, and M1 devices are now manufactured by TSMC using a 5-nanometer manufacturing process.

From a fairly reliable source, but take this one with a big grain of MSG.
A16 Bionic will continue to use 5nm from TSMC N5P. From the list I received from source “TSMCFF5”
Upgrades are slightly better CPU, LPDDR5 RAM and better GPU. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/lYebcki94F
— ShrimpApplePro 🍤 (@VNchocoTaco) May 26, 2022

The M2 chip, on the other hand, is expected to use TSMC’s 3-nanometer technology. The 4-nanometer process will be skipped entirely in its manufacturing model. The M2 is rumoured to be Apple’s first proprietary ARMv9 CPU. Meanwhile, according to the leaker, Apple is working on a final variant of its M1 SoC family. It will use the same cores present in the A15 Bionic chip instead of the A14 cores.

Apple to keep the 5nm node its upcoming A16 chip which will be powering the upcoming iPhone 14 Pro variants

The base iPhone 14 models are expected to retain A15 processors with performance enhancements. While many speculated that TSMC will employ their newer 4-nanometer process for the A16, this is unlikely. If this is correct, the A16 chip may not be as significant an upgrade as we had hoped.

Performance increases will come from the phone’s memory, according to ShrimpApplePro and respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. That form of memory is up to 1.5 times quicker than the present LPDDR 4 memory chips in use. It’s also up to 30% more efficient in terms of energy.

It might be the rumoured Mac Pro or the MacBook Air 2022 which will inherit this chip. The upcoming MacBook Air, according to Kuo, will keep the M1 chip rather than the new M2 SoC. We may get a look at the new M1 model at WWDC, which is less than two weeks away. Apple is unlikely to divulge anything about the A16 chip until the iPhone 14 launch in the fall of 2022.