TSMC Will Reportedly Start Apple A14 5nm SoC On Q2 2020 For iPhone 12 Lineup

According to a new report from Digitimes, TSMC is expected to start producing A14 chipset for the upcoming iPhone 2020 (iPhone 12) from the second quarter of this year. The chipset is based on TSMC's new 5nm process, promising to bring higher performance and energy savings than the 7nm process used on Apple's previous A12 and A13 chipset models.

In late 2018, Apple launched the A12 chipset and made a great impression when it became the first manufacturer to equip 7nm chips on a smartphone, namely on the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR. Since TSMC is leading the 5nm chip technology and most of the orders are from Apple, it is very likely that the iPhone 12 smartphones will be the first ones in the world to be equipped with 5nm chipset.

As claimed by TSMC, the new chipset technology will help to reduce up to 45% of the area, while increase performance up to 15% compared to the 7nm chipset available on the market today. Not just that, the 5nm chipset will also come with many architectural improvements, allowing smartphone manufacturers to use bigger batteries and equipped with some new technology on future smartphone models.

The roadmap to equip the 5nm chip for iPhone is not a new thing. In fact, almost a year ago, we saw quite a few reports that the iPhone 2020 would use a chip built on the 5nm process.

The iPhone 12 smartphones are expected to bring users significant hardware upgrades, including a similar design to the old iPhone 4, OLED screens with different sizes, new 3D ToF sensors for the rear camera setup, and support 5G connectivity.