Apple is not due to unveil new iPhones until the fall this year but that doesn’t mean that the wheels aren’t already in motion to get everything ready in time for mass production. A new report claims that Apple’s primary chip partner, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. or TSMC, is going to start volume production of the A11 processor in next month. This chip is going to debut with the iPhone 7s and iPhone 8.
The Economic Daily news reports that TSMC is going to start volume production of the next iPhone’s processor in April. It’s reportedly going to be built on the 10nm FinFET process.
This won’t be TSMC’s first 10nm chip as it has already produced other chips in volume on the same process in the fall last year which were subsequently delivered to customers in the first quarter of this year.
The schedule for production and delivery is said to be the same as it was for the iPhone 7 since the next iPhone is also expected to arrive in September this year. However, TSMC is believed to deliver 100 million A11 processors before the end of this year, which would be slightly more than the quantity it delivered for the A10.
TSMC is said to be aiming at a target of 50 million chips by July this year. The iPhone 8 is expected to be a revolutionary update over its predecessor and there are no reports as yet to suggest that Apple will stray away from its traditional fall release cycle for new smartphones this year.