The A16 chip for the iPhone 14 will reportedly be made using the same manufacturing process as the iPhone 13’s A15 Bionic. However, for the Mac M2 chip, Apple is planning a bigger performance leap using TSMC’s new 3nm manufacturing process. At least that’s what the leaker known as “ShrimpApplePro” claims to have found out. In addition, the final and most powerful chip of the M1 family is said to be in the starting blocks.
iPhone 14 allegedly with 5nm SoC
In a thread on Twitter, ShrimpApplePro shared information from a “relatively reliable source” purportedly revealing Apple’s chip plans for the upcoming A16 and M2 chips, as well as the “final” variant of the M1 chip family.
The A16 will be based on TSMC’s 5nm process, just like the A14, A15 and M1 chips. Previous reports have been inconclusive as to whether the A16 will be manufactured using TSMC’s more advanced 4nm process. The use of the 5nm manufacturing process at least suggests that the A16 could be a smaller upgrade than previously thought.
According to the information, the improvements of the A16 will instead come from smaller improvements in the CPU, GPU and memory. Following a report by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, ShrimpApplePro reports that the A16 will come with LPDDR 5 memory. LPDDR 5 memory is up to 1.5 times faster and up to 30 percent more energy efficient than LPDDR 4X memory paired with the A15 chip in iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro.
Big leap for the M2 and “final” M1 chip
The M2 chip may be the first Apple chip to make the leap to TSMC’s 3nm process, skipping 4nm entirely. It is believed that the M2 will be Apple’s first custom ARMv9 processor.
Apple is also said to be working on the “final M1-series SoC,” which features 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 reportedly be based on the A15 Bionic, which features energy-efficient “Blizzard” cores and high-performance “Avalanche” cores.
This last chip in the M1 family could find its way into the next-gen Mac Pro, Apple hinted at earlier this year. Currently Apple’s most powerful chip is the M1 Ultra, which is effectively a duplicated version of the M1 Max with a 20-core CPU and 64-core GPU.
Apple is believed to be working on a chip even more powerful than the M1 Ultra with the first Apple Silicon Mac Pro. The M1 Ultra in the Mac Studio is already faster than Intel’s 28W Xeon chip, so the Mac Pro should see an even more extreme leap in performance.
ShrimpApplePro was unsure about the final naming of the “A16”, “M2” and the final M1 chip variant, saying itself that the rumor should be taken with a pinch of salt.
From a fairly reliable source, but take this one with a big grain of MSG.
A16 Bionic will continue to use 5nm from TSMC N5P. From the list I received from source “TSMCFF5”
Upgrades are slightly better CPU, LPDDR5 RAM and better GPU. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/lYebcki94F— ShrimpApplePro 🍤 (@VNchocoTaco) May 26, 2022
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