Why is only iPhone 15 Pro available on TSMC 3nm? Understood pedestrian speaks the truth

Strange to say, for many years, although the performance of Android flagship chips has not been as good as that of Apple's A-series chips, at least the semiconductor technology is of the same generation - for example, the A12 has been upgraded to 7nm, and the Snapdragon 855 of the same generation is also 7nm.

And this time, the upcoming Snapdragon 8Gen3 and Tianji 9300 will both use TSMC N4P. That is to say, only the A17Pro will adopt TSMC's 3nm process for the next generation flagship chip. The question arises, why only the iPhone 15 Pro is available on TSMC at 3nm? Understanders speak the truth.

Firstly, TSMC's 3nm process is actually divided into the basic version N3B and the enhanced version N3E. Among them, N3B is the basic version, with a very aggressive design, high density, low energy efficiency, and low yield, resulting in a higher price.

The enhanced version of the N3E process, nominally an enhanced version, is actually a simplified version of the N3B structure - some people jokingly say that the N3E is a 3nmq youth version. Its density is slightly lower, its structure is simpler, but its energy efficiency is better, and its price has also decreased significantly.

Many people are unaware that the A17Pro chip uses TSMC N3B technology. As everyone knows, the heating issue of iPhone 15 Pro has been exposed across the internet, and in the end, Apple can only solve it through system updates.

This also partly explains the problem: the initial 3nm process is not ideal enough, with high costs and low returns.

Moreover, from a data perspective, N3B does not have a significant advantage in energy efficiency compared to N4P, but rather has a higher density advantage. However, if it weren't for the obsession with making chips smaller, there was no need to strengthen them.

Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, Qualcomm and MediaTek chose to use the more mature TSMC N4P, and only upgraded the 3nm process after the N3E process was mass-produced.

Finally, the strange name A17Pro actually reveals a lot of information. It is said that after the N3E process is mass-produced, Apple will remake the A17Pro into a simplified version of the N3E, which may reduce some performance and be used on the iPhone 16 standard version - that is, the A17.

However, according to the latest news, it will no longer be called A17, but will be renamed A18. With this wave of operation, Apple has earned a reputation of 3 nanometers for its debut, and has laid a way out in advance. How can it justify itself. Just changing the name and keeping things straight, Apple still has a unique style.