According to new rumors, the A17 Bionic chip, first used in the iPhone 15 Pro and ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ Max this year, will be fundamentally different from the 2024 version of the same chipset. It will be the first Apple chip to be manufactured using the 3nm process, which will provide a significant increase in performance and efficiency compared to the 5nm technology used for the A14, A15 and A16 chips.

The first version of the A17 Bionic chip will reportedly be manufactured using TSMC’s N3B technology, but Apple plans to upgrade the A17 to the N3E next year. The move is believed to be a cost-cutting measure that could come from productivity cuts.

N3B is TSMC’s original ‌3nm‌ node created in partnership with Apple. The N3E, on the other hand, is a simpler and more cost-effective node that many other TSMC customers will use. N3E has fewer EUV layers and lower transistor density than N3B, which compromises efficiency, but the process can provide better performance. The N3B has also been mass-produced for a while longer than the N3E, but has a much lower output.

The N3B was originally designed as a trial node and is incompatible with TSMC’s successor processes, including N3P, N3X, and N3S, meaning Apple will need to redesign its future chips to take advantage of TSMC. It was originally thought that Apple planned to use the N3B for the A16 Bionic chip, but had to revert to the N4 as it wasn’t ready in time. Apple may be using the N3B CPU and GPU core design originally developed for the A16 Bionic for the first A17 chips, before switching to the original A17 design with the N3E later in 2024. This architecture is likely to be replicated via TSMC. the following nodes are for chips like “A18” and “A19”.

It seems unlikely that Apple will make such drastic changes to the A17 Bionic during the iPhone 15 Pro‌ and iPhone 15 Pro‌ Max production cycle, so the N3E version of the chip is available for the standard iPhone 16 and next year’s iPhone. 16 Plus models. The A15 Bionic chip in the iPhone 14 and ‌iPhone 14‌ Plus is a high-end variant with one additional GPU core compared to the A15 used in the iPhone 13 and ‌iPhone 13‌ mini, so there are some generational differences despite appearances. same chip, not observed. Unheard

The rumor comes from a Weibo user claiming to be an integrated circuit expert with 25 years of experience working with Intel Pentium processors. Earlier this year, they were the first to say that the iPhone 15 and ‌iPhone 15 Pro‌ USB-C port and accompanying charging cables will feature a Lightning-like authentication chip, potentially limiting their functionality to accessories not certified by Apple. It needs to be verified by more reliable sources.