A20 Chip for iPhones Said to Remain 3nm [Retracted Rumor]

Update — March 20: GF Securities has retracted this information, and it expects the A20 chip to be manufactured with TSMC's 2nm process. The original story follows.

While the iPhone 17 series is still around six months away, a rumor pertaining to next year's iPhone 18 series has already surfaced.

iOS 18 Siri Personal Context
In a research note with investment firm GF Securities today, analyst Jeff Pu said the A20 chip for the iPhone 18 models will be manufactured with TSMC's third-generation 3nm process, known as N3P. That is the same process that is expected to be used for the A19 and A19 Pro chips coming in the iPhone 17 models, so the iPhone 18 models could have relatively small overall performance improvements compared to the previous generation.

Pu does expect the A20 chip to have one upgrade that he said will benefit Apple Intelligence capabilities. Specifically, he said the chip will use TSMC's so-called Chip on Wafer on Substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology, which would allow for tighter integration of the chip's processor, unified memory, and Neural Engine.

If this information is accurate, the first iPhone chip to use TSMC's 2nm technology would be the A21 chip in 2027 at the earliest.

Related Forum: iPhone

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Top Rated Comments

bhirt37 Avatar
16 weeks ago

Silicon atoms are 0.2nm

Presumably you’d need at least two to make a transistor.
The whole 3nm, 2nm is just a bunch of marketing bs that now describes a “process” instead of a real measurement. Historically the nm actually corresponded to a physical size (normally a transistor gate pitch, the distance between the center of adjacent transistors), but thats ancient history. Back in 2022, TSMC said the gate pitch for their 3nm process was in fact 45nm. That was N3. I have no idea what N3P is.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DocMultimedia Avatar
16 weeks ago
How is the 1mm chip coming along? I think we need at least five years of rumors. ? Why stop at 2mm?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Neil J. Squillante Avatar
16 weeks ago
In 2027, Apple should take advantage of the 20th anniversary to sync up the iPhone, SOC, and iOS version numbers. It’s all the “S” models that messed everything up. They should all have the same number.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ThaRuler Avatar
16 weeks ago
I’m waiting for 0nm chips
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kerr Avatar
16 weeks ago
Think I have this right:

2023 - A17 3nm, N3B (Pro models)
2024 - A18 3nm, N3E (all models)
2025 - A19 3nm, N3P (all models)
2026 - A20 3nm, N3P (all models)
2027 - A21 2nm, N2?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_nm_process#3_nm_process_nodes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_nm_process#2_nm_process_nodes
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BorisDG Avatar
16 weeks ago

In a research note with investment firm GF Securities today, analyst Jeff Pu said the A20 chip for the iPhone 18 models will be manufactured with TSMC's second-generation 3nm process, known as N3P.
First of all, it's 3rd generation. 1st is N3B, 2nd is N3E and than we have N3P and probably N3X. Anyway I'm pretty sure Apple will use N2 for A20. The competition is not sleeping and they can't skip 2nm for A20.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)