iPhone 18 buyers in 2026 should expect a faster phone without overheating
Do you remember who TSMC's first customers were when it started to produce chips using its 5nm node? The year was 2020 and the pair were the foundry's largest two customers. You probably know that Apple was (and remains) TSMC's largest customer but can you guess the other company? I'll give you a hint. It's name rhymes with "Ga-way." That's right, Apple and Huawei were TSMC's largest customers in 2020 which is when the pair were the first to have the Taiwan-based foundry supply them with 5nm silicon.
This was before U.S. sanctions made it impossible for Huawei to source cutting-edge semiconductors from most foundries.
By 2023, when TSMC was debuting 3nm production, Apple was the first to be supplied with 3nm chips. Some of that was due to the expensive price of the silicon wafers needed to build the chips. Apple tied up all of TSMC's 3nm production anyway and managed to get a sweetheart deal from the foundry that sharply limited its risk. Now that TSMC will start to take orders for 2nm production on April 1st, you probably think that Apple will use TSMC's latest process node to build the A19 application processor (AP) for the iPhone 17 series. But you'd be wrong.
Actually, analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities initially expected Apple to repeat using the third-gen 3nm node (N3P) for the A20 and A20 Pro SoCs to be employed on the iPhone 18 in 2026. Pu has since changed his mind; he now believes that after TSMC uses the third-gen 3nm node this year to produce the A19 and A19 Pro APs for the iPhone 17 series, Apple will debut the 2nm node with the A20 and A20 Pro APs for the iPhone 18 line in 2026.
By 2027, major foundries will turn from the 2nm process node to 1.4nm. | Image credit-TSMC
Since jumping to a new node typically means the use of smaller transistors, more of them should be able to fit inside a 2nm chip making it more powerful and energy-efficient than 3nm silicon. But there is more. At 2nm, TSMC will debut its Gate-All-Around transistors which use vertically placed horizontal nanosheets to surround the channel, through which electrical current flows, on all four sides. This lowers the opportunity for current leaks and improves the drive current.
Thanks in part to Gate-All-Around transistor architecture, reports say that the A20/A20 Pro APs will deliver a 15% hike in performance while running at the same power level. This would indicate that the application processors, in this case the A20 and A20 Pro, are more efficient than their predecessors (the A19 and A19 Pro). With a chip that delivers better performance without having to consume more energy, users of the iPhone 18 series powered by the A20/A20 Pro shouldn't have to worry about shorter battery life or overheating issues.
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