Reports from Taiwan revealed that Apple is expecting a 35% improvement in power efficiency from the A17 Bionic chipset, which is reportedly built by TSMC on the 3nm FinFet technology process. Insiders revealed that this will be a key feature that will drive “replacement demand” among iPhone users, along with the new camera and USB-C charging port.
According to DigiTimes, Apple has reportedly bought the entire first production run of TSMC’s 3nm chips, making it the only smartphone company with such a semiconductor by 2023. Qualcomm and Mediatek won’t be developing their own solutions for now, with Mediatek citing “high production costs”, while the American company stands back and assesses the situation.
Samsung is already betting heavily on its 3nm process technology, and as the company told us, they will continue to develop it without compromising older 130-65nm nodes.
Apple is expected to use the A17 Bionic for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. These phones also come with an updated design, a periscope camera, and solid-state volume and power buttons.
The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are likely to stick with the A16 Bionic, though they’ll also get the USB-C treatment after the EU effectively pressured Apple to ditch the lighting port.
