Apple is planning to change technology for the A17 Bionic chip. Apple’s A17 processor could undergo major changes in 2024. The A17 Bionic chip that will be used in the Phone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will differ from a version of the same chip set that will be produced in 2024, according to the latest rumors.
The A17 Bionic is expected to be Apple’s first chip produced with a 3nm manufacturing process, resulting in major improvements in performance and efficiency over the 5nm technique used for the A14, A15 and A16 chips. The initial version of the A17 Bionic chip will reportedly be manufactured using TSMC’s N3B process, but Apple plans to switch to N3E next year. This move is said to be a cost-cutting measure that could come at the expense of reduced efficiency.
N3B is TSMC’s original 3nm node co-created with Apple. However, N3E is a simpler and more accessible node that most other TSMC clients will use. N3E has fewer EUV layers and lower transistor density than N3B, resulting in efficiency tradeoffs, but the process can provide better performance. N3B has also been ready for mass production for a while longer than N3E, but has a much lower yield.
N3B was actually designed as a test node and is not compatible with TSMC’s later processes, including N3P, N3X and N3S, meaning Apple will have to redesign its future chips to take advantage of TSMC’s advances. Apple was initially believed to be planning to use the N3B for the A16 Bionic chip, but had to revert to the N4 because that process wasn’t ready yet. It’s possible that Apple may be using the N3B CPU core and GPU design originally designed for the A16 Bionic for the initial A17 chips, before moving to the original A17 designs with N3E later in 2024.
It is not excluded that Apple may call this advanced A17 expected in 2024 as “A18”.
It seems highly unlikely that Apple would make such a drastic change to the A17 Bionic during the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max production cycle, so the N3E version of the chip could be targeted for next year’s iPhone 16 instead