The iPhone 15 Pro will be powered this year by the new A17 system-on-chip, which is expected to be the world’s first consumer chip to be manufactured using a 3nm N3B manufacturing process. This means significantly more logic and cache in the same chip size, and better power efficiency at the same level of performance as current 5nm iPhone chips. We expect great things from the A17.
A new rumor from a Weibo user claiming to be an experienced IC developer suggests that Apple will switch production of the A17 sometime next year from TSMC’s N3B process to the upcoming N3E process. It is estimated that the N5E process has better costs, but can be less efficient than N3B (also known as N3, the initial “basic” 3nm process).
This person’s accuracy cannot be verified – they don’t have a long history of accurate leaks, only really gaining prominence by being the first to claim that the USB-C port on iPhone 15 phones will use cables with Apple-provided authentication chips (like Lightning connectors do) to enable full functionality. This rumor has not yet been verified either, although it has been reported by other sources.
Either way, this rumor makes sense — and if true, it shouldn’t concern potential iPhone 15 buyers. Here’s why.
First of all, N3B (aka N3) is the base node of 3nm. It’s expensive and has relatively low returns, and all (or almost all) of the supply is used by Apple. The N3E is the most recent and refined version of the 3 nm process consisting of six fewer EUV (extreme ultraviolet) layers and therefore much less expensive to manufacture.
Is N3E less effective? Yes and no. Anandtech has a good breakdown of these initial 3nm process technologies from TSMC’s public disclosures. Essentially the new N3E process will compress a little less logic or cache in the same area as N3, but it is expected to use quite a bit. less power and support slightly higher clock speeds. In other words, according to TSMC’s disclosures, the N3E is still slightly less efficient in one metric (density) and just slightly more efficient in others (power, clock speeds).
What does all this mean for the iPhone 15 Pro or the upcoming iPhone 16? Not a lot. If Apple starts producing A17 chips on this new N3E node next year, it won’t be much different from the first A17 chips made on the N3 (N3B) node. It might need to be a little bigger and use a little less power, but your experience of using the finished product will be no different. We may not even know when or if Apple changes the processes.
The performance of your iPhone depends on many factors, including RAM technology, storage performance, wireless networking, and of course, software. Battery life is heavily affected by display, wireless radios, RAM, etc. If a new A17 release next year differs only a few percent from the initial release – and that’s a really big “if” – you’ll never even notice it.
