Alleged Apple Chip Plans Suggest 'A16' Will Stick With 5nm, 'M2' to Make Jump to 3nm Instead

The "A16" chip for the iPhone will reportedly be manufactured with the same process as the iPhone 13's A15 Bionic, with Apple saving a bigger performance leap for the "M2" chip designed for its next-generation Macs. Meanwhile, the company is working on a "final" M1 chip variant that uses more powerful cores from the A15, according to the leaker known as "ShrimpApplePro."

a16 5nm m2 3nm feature 2
In a thread on Twitter, ShrimpApplePro shared information from "a fairly reliable source" that purports to reveal Apple's chip plans for the upcoming A16 and M2 chips, as well as the "final" variant in the M1 family of chips.

The A16 will reportedly be based on TSMC's 5nm process, just like the A14, A15, and M1 chips. Previous reports have been unclear about whether the A16 will be fabricated with TSMC's more advanced 4nm process, with an ambiguous report from DigiTimes claiming that Apple plans to use TSMC's 4nm N4P process – but N4P is in fact an enhanced, third-generation version of the 5nm process. On the other hand, ShrimpApplePro said that the A16 will use TSMC's N5P process. This suggests that the A16 may be less of a substantial upgrade than previously thought.

According to the information, the A16's improvements will instead come from minor enhancements to the CPU, GPU, and memory. Mirroring a report from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, ShrimpApplePro said that the A16 will specifically feature LPDDR 5 memory. LPDDR 5 memory is up to one and a half times faster and up to 30 percent more power-efficient than the LPDDR 4X memory paired with the A15 chip in the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro.

The M2 chip will apparently be the first Apple chip to make the jump to TSMC's 3nm process, skipping 4nm entirely. The M2 is believed to be Apple's first custom ARMv9 processor.

Apple is also said to be working on the "final SoC of M1 series," featuring updated cores. The M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra chips use energy-efficient "Icestorm" cores and high-performance "Firestorm" cores – just like the A14 Bionic chip. Apple's final M1 variant will instead allegedly be based on the A15 Bionic, featuring "Blizzard" energy-efficient cores and "Avalanche" high-performance cores.

This final chip in the M1 family could be offered in the next-generation Mac Pro, which Apple explicitly teased earlier this year. Currently, Apple's most powerful chip is the M1 Ultra, which is effectively a doubled-up version of the M1 Max with a 20-core CPU and a 64-core GPU. With the first Apple silicon Mac Pro, Apple is believed to be working on a chip that is even more powerful than the M1 Ultra. The M1 Ultra in the Mac Studio is already faster than the 28-core Intel Xeon chip, so the Mac Pro will need to boast an even more extreme advance in performance.

Alternatively, if it is not for the Mac Pro, this new chip could be a variant of the standard M1 chip. Kuo said earlier this year that the 2022 MacBook Air would retain the M1 chip rather than feature the M2, so it is possible that ShrimpApplePro's rumor relates to the entry-level M1 rather than the top-tier M1 variant in the Apple silicon Mac Pro, or something else entirely. Offering devices with an iteration of the standard M1 chip could help Apple buy time before releasing Macs with the M2 chip.

Other reports claim that the A16 chip will debut exclusively in the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, with the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Max sticking with the iPhone 13's A15 Bionic, while the M2 chip is mostly rumored to be introduced with a redesigned MacBook Air later this year, before spreading to a wave of new Macs and potentially the next-generation iPad Pro.

ShrimpApplePro was unsure about the final naming of the "A16," "M2," and the final M1 chip variant and said that the rumor should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Related Roundups: MacBook Air, Mac Pro
Related Forums: iPhone, MacBook Air, Mac Pro

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Friday July 4, 2025 1:05 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are just over two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:Apple logo repositioned: Apple's logo may have a lower position on the back of the iPhone 17 Pro models, compared to previous...
Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked

Thursday July 3, 2025 5:40 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...
airpods pro 2

AirPods Pro 3 to Help Maintain Apple's Place in Earbud Market Amid Increasing Low-Cost Competition

Thursday July 3, 2025 7:25 am PDT by
Apple's position as the dominant force in the global true wireless stereo (TWS) earbud market is expected to continue through 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. The forecast outlines a 3% year-over-year increase in global TWS unit shipments for 2025, signaling a transition from rapid growth to a more mature phase for the category. While Apple is set to remain the leading brand by...
iphone 16 pro models 1

Here's How the iPhone 17 Pro Max Will Compare to the iPhone 17 Pro

Saturday July 5, 2025 1:00 pm PDT by
Apple should unveil the iPhone 17 series in September, and there might be one bigger difference between the Pro and Pro Max models this year. As always, the Pro Max model will be larger than the Pro model:iPhone 17 Pro: 6.3-inch display iPhone 17 Pro Max: 6.9-inch displayGiven the Pro Max is physically larger than the Pro, it has more internal space, allowing for a larger battery and...
apple silicon mac lineup 2024 feature purple m5

Apple's Upcoming Macs Listed in New Report

Thursday July 3, 2025 9:09 am PDT by
AppleInsider's Marko Zivkovic today shared a list of alleged identifiers for future Mac models, which should roll out over the next year or so. The report does not reveal anything too surprising, but it does serve as further evidence that Apple is seemingly working on new models of every Mac, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro. Apple is...

Top Rated Comments

fwmireault Avatar
41 months ago
So glad we can rely on trusted sources like ShrimpApplePro
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gigatoaster Avatar
41 months ago
This was a very complicated article to read. I don’t blame MR as the topic is indeed complicated. I’ll just stick to what I understood: there is guy on Twitter who likes shrimps and he talks about chips.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Reason077 Avatar
41 months ago
Sounds like the iPhone 15 is the one to wait for. USB-C and 3nm A17? Sign me up!
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
t0rqx Avatar
41 months ago
I told you all the final variant would be M1 God.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Basic75 Avatar
41 months ago
So ... nobody outside of Apple really knows what's going on, we all just have to wait and see.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
syklee26 Avatar
41 months ago
Final variant should be M1 Steve
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)