Report: Apple to use 5-nm process for iPhone 2020 processors, again manufactured by TSMC

About a week ago, we heard that the A13 chip for this year's iPhones would continue to be manufactured with the same 7-nanometer feature size as the A12. Digitimes notes today that for the 2020 iPhone, we will witness a new leap forward in miniaturization.

The site says that TSMC should secure Apple's first 5-nanometer order next year.

The size of the manufacturing is not directly related to the performance, but smaller spaces between the transistors generally result in better energy efficiency and more space for more transistors in the same area, which translates into performance gains. Last year, Apple signed a big contract with the company, which is the first (and even one of the few companies) to ship 7 nm processors on a large scale.

The A12X chips of the iPhone and A12X iPad far outweigh the competition in terms of calculation criteria. Even last year's iPhones still stand up to modern Android's flagship products, at least as far as synthetic benchmarks are concerned.

While the A13 will continue to use the 7 nm process, TSMC will for the first time adopt extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. EUV makes it possible to have more complex microscopic patterns on chips. For the first tests, TSMC will use EUV on the four most important layers of the chips. Later this year, it is planned to manufacture EUVs on up to 14 layers. Given the ramp up timelines of the Apple supply chain, it is expected that the A13 will be manufactured according to the more conservative approach.