Wired
As the first processor of the iPhone 14 series, Apple is also actively preparing for the A16. Of course, at this stage, it is more about production capacity, so it is inevitable to strengthen cooperation with TSMC.
According to the latest news from the supply chain, Apple’s self-developed new-generation A16 application processor has completed the design and finalization, and will be produced using TSMC’s 4nm N4P process. It is expected to enter mass production at TSMC’s Fab 18 in the second half of the year.
Due to the shortage of foundry capacity, Apple has accepted price increases to ensure production capacity, and has contracted TSMC’s 120,000-150,000 4nm production capacity (the average price in 2022 will increase by about 8-10% compared with 2021), but the source said that because It is the largest customer, and the increase will be lower than that of other advanced process customers.
According to previous statements, Apple will launch two A16 Bionic processors, both of which will be 6-core processor architectures, but will be differentiated according to the number of graphics cores, supporting 5G dual-band and a new generation of LPDDR5, WiFi6E and other technical specifications. All will be cast using TSMC’s 4nm process.
In addition to the A16, Apple is also preparing the M2. It will switch all Mac series to self-developed Apple Silicon in 2022. The M2 series processors and the Mac series product line are more clearly matched, which will help speed up the product line. generation change. The development of Apple’s M2 series processors is nearing completion. Among them, the M2 processor is expected to be launched in the second half of 2022, and the M2 Pro and M2Max are expected to be launched in the first half of 2023.
Before that, the supply chain also showed that in order to reduce the demand for Qualcomm, Apple will use self-developed baseband chips next year, while TSMC is still their exclusive foundry, which will use the 5nm process with an annual production capacity of 12 million pieces.
In fact, Qualcomm has already hinted that Apple’s self-developed baseband will soon be put into use, and they also hinted that its share of iPhone baseband orders will drop to about 20% in 2023.
Earlier, Tianfeng International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in an investor report that Apple plans to install its self-developed 5G baseband chips in iPhones starting in 2023.