Mass production of the iPhone 13's A15 chip to begin in May

Apple A15 processor, the chip that will power the iPhone 13 lineup that will be released this fall, is heading into mass production next month.

According to a new report by DigiTimes (via MacRumors), the chip is based on the 5nm process that was first introduced with the A14 Bionic chip that shipped with the iPhone 12 lineup as well as the new iPad Air. While further details are still unknown the chip, as all have done before it, will most likely be more powerful while consuming less battery life. This new report echoes one from back in March that also claimed production would begin at the end of May.

Longtime Apple supplier TSMC is set to begin mass shipments of Apple's upcoming A15 chip for the iPhone 13 ahead of schedule at the end of May, according to a snippet of a full report set to be published tomorrow by DigiTimes.

The new chip will be based on an enhanced version of the 5nm process, which first debuted in the A14 Bionic with the 2020 iPad Air and iPhone 12 lineup. While the full report will likely offer more details as to the specifics of the new chip that will power the next-generation iPhones, it can be reasonably assumed that it will improve on performance and power efficiency.

Outside of the new A15 chip, the iPhone 13 may move the speaker from the notch to the top, resulting in a smaller notch than what is currently on the iPhone.

Regarding the size of active area of the center housing, the height becomes from 5.30mm to 5.35mm, and the width becomes from 34.83mm to 26.80mm, which is smaller.

The infrared camera and light shooting illuminator placed on the left hand side of the speaker / mic are moved to the area of the speaker / mike of iPhone 12.

The position of the speaker / mic of iPhone 13 gets closer to the body,

The front camera used to be the right hand side of the speaker / mic, but it is moved to the left.

As opposed to the delayed-release schedule of the iPhone 12 lineup, Apple is expected to release the iPhone on its usual September schedule this year.