Reports from Taiwan revealed Apple expects 35% improvement in power efficiency from the A17 Bionic chipset, reportedly built by TSMC on the 3 nm FinFet technology process. Insiders revealed this will be a key feature that will drive “replacement demand” among iPhone users, along with the new camera and the USB-C charging port.
According to DigiTimes, Apple has reportedly bought the whole first production run of TSMC’s 3 nm chips, making it the only smartphone company with such a semiconductor in 2023. Qualcomm and Mediatek won’t be developing their own solutions for now, with Mediatek quoting “high production costs” while the American company is holding back and assessing the situation.
Samsung is already betting a lot on its 3 nm process technology, and as the company told us, they will keep developing it without being at the expense of legacy 130-65 nm nodes.
Apple is expected to use the A17 Bionic for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. These phones are also coming with a refreshed design, a periscope camera, and solid-state volume and power buttons.
The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are likely sticking to the A16 Bionic, although they are also getting the USB-C treatment after the European Union effectively pushed Apple to ditch the Lighting port.
