Apple is expected to launch its iPhone 14 on September 7 at its ‘Far Out’ event, but after that is released the next-gen iPhone 15 Pro will arrive next year and will be the “most powerful 2023 phone” thanks to its next-gen 3nm chip inside made by TSMC.
Right now we have a limitation of 5nm and 4nm chips inside of smartphones, with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen2 being made on TSMC’s 4nm process node, and Apple’s new A16 being made on TSMC’s 5nm process node. But in 2023, Apple is waiting for the stars to align for TSMC to have its N3 enhanced “N3E” mode ready for its nextr-gen A17 chipset to be made on TSMC’s wicked new 3nm process node.
TSMC’s new 3nm process node + Apple A17 + iPhone 15 Pro = most powerful smartphone of 2023? I guess we’ll have to wait and see, but TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) held its Q2 earnings call recently, with TSMC CEO C. C. Wei said: “N3E will further extend our N3 family with enhanced performance, power and yield. We observed a high level of customer engagement at N3E, and volume production is scheduled for around one year after N3“.
Qualcomm won’t be able to fight back in the 3nm process node battle until its next-gen Snapdragon 8 Gen3 is ready, but that won’t be ready until Android-powered 2024 smartphones are ready, so some 18 months away from now. We should expect Qualcomm to debut its next-gen Snapdragon 8 Gen3 in late 2023, with next-gen Android flagships of 2024 to be powered by 3nm chips made by TSMC.
As for the iPhone 15 Pro smartphone itself, we’ll have the 3nm Apple A17 SoC inside, a punch-hole OLED display, and an upgraded camera system with a 48-megapixel main sensor, joined by a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera with 1.4 micron pixels.
Apple is the “main customer of TSMC’s 3nm process manufacturing in 2023, and the foundry is expected to fulfill considerable 3nm chip orders for multiple customers in 2024” according to industry sources. This will be in the form of Apple’s next-gen iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max smartphones in the second half of 2023.
Now, let’s see how the heat goes… we can have all the power in the world, next-gen cameras and AI, and Apple MagicTM, but I want beyond-all-day battery life. If we just get something that handles all the new power-sucking apps and features of the smartphone, and not something “revolutionary” when it comes to something like battery life… imagine a new iPhone that stands against Android smartphones with 2-3 day true battery life. Not gimmick, full-on 24 hours of no worries using your smartphone, and 48 hours of media consumption. Now that would be revolutionary.
