The A17 Bionic chip for next year's high-end models of the iPhone 15 lineup could be 35% more efficient compared to current iPhone processors thanks to the use of newer 3nm chip process technology.
Apple is expected to adopt the smaller 3nm process technology for the 2023 iPhone chip, destined to be the A17 Bionic. The current A16 Bionic chip uses TSMC's 4nm process, which offers improved efficiency and performance compared to the A15 Bionic chip based on the 5nm process from the year prior.
Mass production of TSMC's 3nm process began this week, and Bloomberg cites TSMC's chairman Mark Liu as saying the newer process will require 35% less power while also providing better performance than its previous 5nm process. Apple is expected to be TSMC's biggest customer of the 3nm process, reportedly using it for the upcoming M2 Pro and M2 Max chips and the A17 Bionic for the iPhone 15 Pro.
Last week, a report uncovered new challenges Apple faced while developing the A16 Bionic chip for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. According to the report, Apple had more aggressive plans to further improve the GPU on the chip, calling it a "generational leap." Apple initially wanted to include ray tracing for the A16 Bionic's GPU, but those plans failed after the chip overheated, leading to poor battery life. Ultimately, Apple changed plans last minute and included a GPU based on last year's A15 Bionic chip.
The lack of a more advanced GPU in the A16 Bionic chip could mean we see more considerable improvements with the A17 Bionic chip on high-end iPhone 15 models next year. For the first time with the iPhone 14 lineup, Apple only gave the higher-end Pro models the newer A16 Bionic chip while keeping the lower-end models with the one-year-old A15 Bionic chip. That same precedent is expected to continue next year, with only the higher-end models of the lineup gaining the A17 Bionic while the rest of the lineup will use this year's A16 Bionic chip.
Details on the iPhone 15 and higher-end iPhone 15 Pro and possibly iPhone 15 "Ultra" are scant, but we are expecting improvements with the cameras, including a periscope lens, the expansion of Dynamic Island to all models of the lineup, and more. For everything we know about the iPhone 15, check out our roundup.
Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you.
Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports.
In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon.
Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week.
iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below.
Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
Monday December 8, 2025 10:18 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today seeded the second release candidate version of iOS 26.2 to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming one week after Apple seeded the first RC. The release candidate represents the final version iOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found.
Registered developers and public beta testers can download the betas from the Settings app on...
Thursday December 11, 2025 11:28 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21.
There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...
Monday December 8, 2025 4:54 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is actively testing under-screen Face ID for next year's iPhone 18 Pro models using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display, claims a Chinese leaker.
According to "Smart Pikachu," a Weibo account that has previously shared accurate supply-chain details on Chinese Android hardware, Apple is testing the special glass as a way to let the TrueDepth...
Wednesday December 10, 2025 12:22 pm PST by Juli Clover
The next-generation low-cost iPad will use Apple's A19 chip, according to a report from Macworld. Macworld claims to have seen an "internal Apple code document" with information about the 2026 iPad lineup.
Prior documentation discovered by MacRumors suggested that the iPad 12 would be equipped with an A18 chip, not an A19 chip. The A19 chip was just released this year in the iPhone 17, and...
Monday December 1, 2025 2:40 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
One thing worth...
Thursday December 11, 2025 4:19 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple's next-generation Studio Display is expected to arrive early next year, and a new report allegedly provides a couple more details on the external monitor's capabilities.
According to internal Apple code seen by Macworld, the new external display will feature a variable refresh rate capable of up to 120Hz – aka ProMotion – as well as support for HDR content. The current Studio...
USB-C and 35% better battery life? The 15 Pro is sounding better and better. Finally, a significant upgrade worthy of my money!
35% more efficient chip is not the same as 35% better battery life. Anyway, that’s what we hear every year - efficient this, efficient that - but we run for the charger at nearly the same intervals.
"According to the report, Apple had more aggressive plans to further improve the GPU on the chip, calling it a "generational leap." Apple initially wanted to include ray tracing for the A16 Bionic's GPU, but those plans failed after the chip overheated, leading to poor battery life."
It will be interesting to see if Apple can continue to push the GPU envelope on 3nm chips whilst maintaining or improving the current awesome battery life of the iPhone?
