A month has passed since the iPhone 11's launch, so it's safe to say that Huawei has beaten Apple in the race to design the first EUV-fabricated smartphone processor. The Cupertino-based company was rumored earlier this year to give in to TSMC's pricey fabrication node, but its flagships have arrived bearing the same SoC.
Now, a new report claims that Apple's processors will get an EUV design next year, a design fabricated on 5nm. Apparently, the 2020 iPhones will be powered by the better and faster A14 SoC.
The world's largest foundry and Apple partner Taiwan Manufacturing Semiconductor Company (TSMC) has its processors ready for production in light of the iPhone maker's interest in launching next year's flagships with chips fabricated on the 5nm node. Referred to as N5, the node has entered into risk production in early 2019, but it was believed at the time will be used in IoT and 5G products.
However, the new report claims that the first A14 chips fabricated using TSMC's N5 process were due to be delivered to Apple last month. Now, the supplier is gearing up to carry out volume production as early as March 2020.
TSMC manufactures all of Apple's processors. Its move to 5nm comes just in time to employ this revolutionary process in the A14 CPU's for the iPhone 12 range next year.
The way Apple engineers its smartphone processors are obviously very different from Android's microarchitectural parameters. Instead of referencing another design and making changes, the American tech giant creates from the ground up. This decision has benefitted Apple in more ways than one, as it has full control over performance, as evidenced by the A13.
If you're wondering why the iPhone 11 handsets all have heavier batteries, it's for this reason - for Apple to completely separate the iPhones from Android smartphones in terms of performance
Analysts previously predicted that TSMC would perfect its 5nm process by next year. The company only confirmed the news at a shareholders meeting led by CFO Lora Ho, the DigiTimes reports.
While Ho made no mention of Apple and didn't specify the company per se, their working history is enough proof that the iPhone maker will be among the firsts to receive the new tech. TSMC never fails to supply Apple with upgraded chips each year.
Already, it looks like the iPhone 12 is set to be a huge upgrade from the current line. Along with 5nm A-series chips, it should become the first iPhone with 5G connectivity.
