We have just entered the pure and simple summer. And that means two months of beta for the new systems showcased at WWDC, a lot of heat, and perhaps the unusual arrival of new laptops in mid-August.
But as we endure the high temperatures and look forward to September and the new iPhones, Apple and its suppliers are busy with the next generations of their Mac chips with a key factor to beat your competition: the size of the transistors
5, 4 and 3 nanometers, the numbers we will hear the most between now and 2023
The A14 chip on the iPhone 12 and the M1 chip on the new Macs use 5nm transistors. This figure should not be underestimated, because reaching it required a huge engineering effort that already allows us measure the most basic components of a processor using atomic scales.
And yet, 5nm will seem like a lot to us in a few years. A new DigiTimes report reflected by MacRumors this week suggests the agenda that Apple would have planned for its next generations of chips
We would start this fall with the iPhone 13’s ‘A15’ chip, which would continue to use 5nm transistors but manufactured with improved technology that would deliver more efficiency. Perhaps another Mac chip that may appear before the end of the year will also benefit from this technology.
Over the next few months, supplier TSMC would also start produce the chips with 4nm transistors
And although these products will be showcased at future Apple events, at the same time TSMC would start manufacturing the chips with 3nm transistors. This would be in the second half of 2022 and it would achieve a 15% increase in performance while consuming 30% less energy.
This generation of chips would be the one that would give the final door to Intel chips, finalizing the transition and demonstrating its potential in a Mac Pro that should leave us speechless. Fewer nanometers, more surprises.
Image | Laura ockel
