iPhone 14 could adopt 4nm chip process, claims report

A new report from Digitimes claims the iPhone 14 will adopt TSMC's 4nm process for its chips next year, as opposed to moving more quickly to 3nm.

Digitimes states:

Apple is expected to take a slower approach to moving its iPhone chips to more advanced manufacturing nodes. The vendor is likely to adopt TSMC 4nm process for its next-generation iPhone chips, rather than migrate further to 3nm.

The ever-shrinking building blocks that make up the chips at the heart of Apple's best iPhones allow for future models to be even smaller and more energy-efficient.

TSMC unveiled its 4nm or 'N4P' processer just a couple of weeks ago, stating:

TSMC today introduced its N4P process, a performance-focused enhancement of the 5-nanometer technology platform. N4P joins the industry's most advanced and extensive portfolio of leading-edge technology processes. With N5, N4, N3 and the latest addition of N4P, TSMC customers will have multiple and compelling choices for power, performance, area, and cost for its products.

TSMC says the process offers performance boosts of 11% over N5 and 6% over N4, the former is at the heart of Apple's iPhone 13 announced in September.

Digitimes and others have previously reported that as soon as next year we could expect to see chips in Apple products based on TSMC's 3nm process, however, Nikkei Asia reported in July of this year that the iPhone 14 would be based on a 4nm chip.

A report earlier this week from The Information stated that 3nm chips were not in the frame for iPhone 14. Regardless we can expect the A16 chip from Apple to be a decent jump on the A15 Bionic from this year.