Apple will release the iPhone 16 series, which will bring major changes and upgrades. While launch is still nearly a year away, the first leaks and rumors are already starting to emerge, giving us even more to look forward to from these devices. According to the latest news, the entire iPhone 16 series will use TSMC’s 3-nanometer A-series chips, which are manufactured using the supplier’s N3E process, which gives them better yields and performance. Apple has confirmed a mass production order with TSMC.
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TSMC's 3nm chips for the iPhone 16 series have entered mass production, which also marks a comprehensive shift from N3B manufacturing technology to N3E manufacturing technology.
iPhone15Pro uses Apple's first-generation 3nm chip, which has improved performance and battery life. However, the standard model is equipped with the A16 Bionic chip, which is the chip of last year’s iPhone 14 Pro model. Next year, all iPhone 16 models will use the second-generation 3nm chip developed by TSMC. The A18 chip that will be used in iPhone16 and iPhone16Pro models will be manufactured using TSMC’s N3E technology, which will bring a series of advantages compared to the N3B process.
It was previously reported that the company will switch from N3B process to N3E process due to higher yield rate and performance ratio. The supplier has switched to the N3E process for mass production. Among other smartphone makers, Apple is TSMC's largest customer, with the giant accounting for 90% of the supplier's output. In addition to Samsung, other major chip manufacturing foundries will also switch to the N3E process.
Compared with the N3B process, TSMC's shift to the N3E process will increase production. In addition, it improves computing performance while being more power efficient. This means that the performance of the iPhone 16 series will be greatly improved and the battery life will also be improved. Currently, Apple uses TSMC's N3B chips, whose output is relatively lower than chips manufactured by the N3E process.
According to industry analyst Jeff Pu, the entire iPhone 16 series will use Apple’s A18 brand chip. The company will use the A18 Bionic chip on the standard iPhone 16 model, while the "Pro" model will use the A18 Pro chip. This means that the standard model will skip TSMC’s N3B process and directly use the N3E manufacturing process. This will significantly improve the performance of iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus compared to the A16 Bionic chip of iPhone 15 models. The A18Pro chip will also be a significant upgrade over the A17Pro chip on the iPhone 16 Pro model.