The Apple A17 chip expected to be used in the iPhone 15 may focus more on battery life improvements than processing performance, according to a 9to5 Mac report. Apple chipmaker TSMC has put more emphasis on energy efficiency than performance when discussing the 3nm process destined for the iPhone 15 series.
Background
TSMC has been leading the chip manufacturing industry in using increasingly advanced processes. Next year’s Apple iPhone 15 series, as well as Mac products powered by the new M2 Pro chip, are expected to use TSMC’s new 3nm process — with mass production already underway.
The move to 3nm will be an important step. The A16 chip in Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro model uses a “4nm process,” but TSMC describes the N4 process used for the processor as a 5nm enhancement — so it will effectively be a direct jump from 5nm to 3nm.
Each new process generation allows for more performance in the same size chip. Typically, there is a balance between performance and power consumption, and Apple’s chip design aims to deliver a good combination of performance and efficiency cores through a mix.
TSMC is gearing up for 3nm production of the A17 chip
With nine months to go until the launch of Apple’s new iPhone 15 product, TSMC’s fabs will have plenty of time to get ready. TSMC is already celebrating the start of mass production of 3nm chips, this new process is expected to have the new M2 Pro chip in Apple’s Mac first, ahead of the A17 processor in the iPhone 15. The future Apple M3 chip is also expected to use the 3nm process.
TSMC Chairman Mark Liu said its 3nm process offers better performance than 5nm chips while reducing power consumption by about 35 percent.
Apple will of course be involved in the design of chips produced by TSMC and will be free to use greater transistor densities to meet its goals. While the chipmaker seems to prefer to emphasize energy efficiency over performance, it’s not clear that this will also be a priority for Apple’s A17 chips.
Likewise, since iPhone chips are rarely limited in terms of performance, many users would welcome greater improvements in battery life.
In the case of the M2 Pro chip for Mac devices in 2023, Apple will try to squeeze as much performance out of the chip as possible, although the Apple Silicon chip will also deliver incredible power efficiency performance.
