Following a report indicating that production would begin ahead of schedule, longtime Apple supplier TSMC has now officially kicked off production of Apple's upcoming A15 chip for the iPhone 13 lineup, expected later on in the second half of this year, according to a new paywalled report from DigiTimes.
The A14 Bionic chip, which first got announced in the iPad Air and then made its way to the iPhone 12, was the first Apple processor to be made using the 5nm process. The A15 Bionic chip will continue to be based on the smaller process but instead use an enhanced version, which presumably will enable improved performance and improved power efficiency to match.
The iPhone 13 is expected to be announced as early as September, in line with previous years, following the delayed launch of the iPhone 12 due to the global health crisis. As lockdowns emerged last year, Apple and its suppliers had to cut back on production, forcing the annual release of the new iPhone to take place in October, one month later than usual. However, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that a similar situation is unlikely to happen again this year.
Alongside the faster performance, graphics, and improved power efficiency thanks to the A15 Bionic chip, the iPhone 13 lineup is rumored to include several other new features. The higher-end models of the lineup, the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, are expected to include an LTPO display, which would enable a higher 120Hz refresh rate. The inclusion of LTPO displays also opens the door for the possibility of having an always-on display.
