Rumor Reversal: A20 Chip for iPhones Said to Use TSMC's 2nm Process

[Homme]

A chips and M chips share a common architecture. M chips just have more cpu and GPU cores than A chips. A chips are smaller and need less power.

But it all Started from the greatest iPad of all time the Air 2 is when M chips started to get more powerful CPU/GPU/RAM than A series Chips ( not counting the iPad 3 because it’s 4 core GPU is crap and not even 1GB of RAM was going to save it from being useful and A6X/A7X iPads were on par with A6/A7 iPhones and iPad Mini 2/3)


Yes that has the A8X but it’s kinda counted as a “M” chip per se. And also it has definitely been over 10 years from A8X to A18X (M4) that standard A series chips have fallen behind ( A18’s multi core is equal to the A14X’s Geekbench score)😁

Also A8X marked the start of Apple modifying the GPU ( two A8 GPU’s combined IIRC and it has 8 Cores) ( despite it not being an Apple GPU) and learning from this over time to create they’re own GPU for the A11 Bionic

 

[svish]

Good to know about it. Whatever the chip manufacturing process used, expecting to see significant improvements along with Apple's C series modem.

 

[DeLaSoul]

ASML is the company driving the technology behind 3 and 2 nm. It is not American but European. The problem with patriotism is that it works both ways. And boy, we are 100% dependent on ASML for producing these chips, since nobody else has the technology. We better stay friendly to the Europeans. As soon as they start limiting exports and create their own chip factories, they will outpace us in computing power. Not just in your shiny new iPhone but also in military use.

 

[FlyingDutch]

What happens at 0nm? Do we win a prize?

The world will collapse

 

[jecowa]

Guessing they got iPhone models or their chips mixed up. It’d be easier if they were named after the year.

 

[FlyingDutch]

My iphone pro 16 is already as fast as an original M1 in geekbench. If the aluminum downgrade rumors are true, this might be the first time I skip an upgrade since the 5-5s.

To skip at least one upgrade is a wise choice anyway…
I really hope Apple is going to increase RAM quantity in new models. Cheaping out on RAM is a very bad Tim’s habit

 

[dmi]

2nm is not just a marketing term, it does correspond to an actual physical measurement

But not the same physical measurement everyone likes to assume.

 

[bodonnell202]

yeah like the A16 being marketed for “4nm” according to Apple when it’s actually 5nm according to TSMC ( which is annoying though)

Umm... the A16 is built on TSMC's N4 process which TSMC literally market's as a 4 nm process (as a density enhanced version of the 5 nm process). From TSMC's website: "The 4nm (N4) process technology is an enhanced version of 5nm (N5) technology with density improvement."

 

[tranceme]

Pass. I'm waiting for 0nm

 

[Homme]

Umm... the A16 is built on TSMC's N4 process which TSMC literally market's as a 4 nm process (as a density enhanced version of the 5 nm process). From TSMC's website: "The 4nm (N4) process technology is an enhanced version of 5nm (N5) technology with density improvement."

Which is all the more reason to confuse people.

No other A or M series chip besides A16 is referred to as an “enhanced version of such and such”

Even back in the day it confused people. The screenshot is an example