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New Apple 7-nm processors

May 23, 2018.

New Apple 7-nm processors

Apple A11 Bionic.

Apple APL1W72 A11 Bionic SoC (iPhone X). © iFixit.

According to Bloomberg, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) started mass production of new generation processors ahead of the launch of the new iPhone later this year. The chip, which is expected to be called the A12, will probably be the first to use a 7-nanometre process in a mobile device, something the industry has been working toward for years. The smaller the process, the more transistors can fit on a single chip, the more efficient the chip, and the less energy is necessary for the same performance. Current smartphone processors, like Apple’s A11 Bionic or Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845, use a 10-nm process. In April, TSMC had announced it had started producing 7-nm processors, but hadn’t revealed for whom. Samsung has announced that it will be producing 7-nm chips by next year. According to enduring rumours, Apple plans to launch at least three new iPhones this fall: a larger version of the iPhone X, an update of the current iPhone X, and a cheaper model of the iPhone X with many of the same features but with a smaller, less expensive, 6.1-inch LCD screen.

Circuit Breaker, “Apple's 7-nanometer A12 processors for 2018 iPhones reportedly start production.”