The next-gen 5nm chips are coming to iPhones later this year

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The A13 Bionic SoC found on the latest iPhones is made using a 7nm process which was the same one used for the 2018 iPhones' A12 chip. And while TSMC roadmaps from previous years did show the company transitioning to a 5nm process in 2020, in the world of tiny silicon things aren’t always set in stone.

As manufacturers shrink the transistors, their manufacturing becomes much harder and yields from wafers drop. The sources state that currently, TSMC is running “risk production” of 5nm silicon, basically a trial run for the process during which issues are ironed out.

The fact that in a few months TSMC will start producing 5nm chips by the millions means that their process is mature enough to take the main stage and that is really good news for us consumers.

What does 5nm mean for you?

Now, we won’t get deep into the intricacies of chip architecture but instead just quickly explain what you can expect from your 2020 iPhone.

When manufacturers move to a smaller node that usually gives chip designers two choices: reduce the size of the die while maintaining performance (or slightly improving it) or cram much more processing power in a chip of the same size.

Obviously, depending on the purpose of the device, both options are viable. The first one lets you have more internal space for other components, while the second gives room for the implementation of more demanding software features such as AR.

Additionally, chips using smaller architecture are also more power-efficient, which allows for better battery life and higher clock speeds when needed since the heat output is significantly lower.

In short, we can expect that Apple’s A14 chip will be a beast. We tend to hear that a lot when iPhone chips are mentioned but this year expectations are getting sky-high and with good reason, it seems. What’s left is for Apple to create software features that make use of all that power in a meaningful way.

This adds another piece to the iPhone 12 puzzle, which is getting closer to completion despite the phones being 9 months away from official release. If you want to check what else we know about them, hop over to our iPhone 12 rumor review.

Of course, TSMC’s manufacturing prowess isn’t reserved only for Apple, although the report says that the Californian company will take up about two-thirds of the 5nm production capacity. Huawei is another smartphone maker looking to have its 5nm chips made by TSMC, likely the ones we’ll find in the Mate 40 series handsets.

Exactly how big of a leap the 5nm process will be, we’ll likely find out once the first benchmarks of the new chips pop up and we can compare them to what we currently have.