Apple’s A16 Chipset Could Be Built On The 4nm Process

According to a recent report, it was suggested that due to technical issues, TSMC might not be able to produce Apple’s 2022 chipsets using the 3nm process. It was largely expected that Apple’s 2022 chipsets for its iPhones and iPads could be built on the smaller process, but that doesn’t appear to be the case anymore.

Instead, a report from DigiTimes (paywall) has suggested that Apple might instead use TSMC’s 4nm process for the A16 chipset that will most likely find its way into next year’s iPhones and iPads. While not the huge leap from 5nm to 3nm that many were hoping for, it is still a small process and should offer up some improvements.

That being said, we should still be a bit skeptical about this report. This is because according to MacRumors, they point towards a TSMC press release in which the company calls it the “N4P” process and calls it a “third major enhancement” of the company’s 5nm process. This means that there is a chance that this isn’t a 4nm process, but rather a further refinement and improvement over the 5nm process that Apple has been using for the past few A-series generations.

Assuming this is the case, while we can probably still expect improvements to performance and efficiencies in the A16, it probably won’t be as drastic had it been built on the 3nm process, but either way it’s still quite a long wait to the iPhone 14, so take it with a grain of salt.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Cellphones, Rumors, Tablets
Tags: iPad, iPhone, SoC