iPhone 17 series revealed to be the first to use 3nm A19 series chips: no chance of TSMC’s 2nm process

 analyst Jeff Pu mentioned in a report that iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air will be the first to be equipped with A19 chips, and iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max will be the first to be equipped with A19 Pro chips. Both chips are built based on TSMC’s third-generation 3nm process (N3P).

It is reported that the A17 Pro, the first launch of the iPhone 15 Pro series, is built based on TSMC’s first-generation 3nm process (N3B), and the A18 and A18 Pro of the iPhone 16 series are built based on TSMC’s second-generation 3nm process (N3E).

Compared with N3E, chips built with N3P process have a higher transistor density, which means that the energy efficiency and performance of the iPhone 17 series models will be further improved.

This also means that the iPhone 17 series will not be able to use TSMC’s latest 2nm process technology. Apple will introduce TSMC’s 2nm process on the iPhone 18 series at the earliest.

According to data, TSMC’s 2nm (N2) process will be launched as early as 2025. It will become the most advanced technology in the semiconductor industry in terms of density and energy efficiency.

N2 technology uses a leading nanosheet transistor structure and will provide full-node performance and power advantages to meet the growing demand for energy-efficient computing. With TSMC’s strategy of continuous improvement, N2 and its derivatives will further expand TSMC’s technological leadership in the future.