Update — March 20: GF Securities has retracted this information, and it expects the A20 chip to be manufactured with TSMC's 2nm process. The original story follows.
While the iPhone 17 series is still around six months away, a rumor pertaining to next year's iPhone 18 series has already surfaced.
In a research note with investment firm GF Securities today, analyst Jeff Pu said the A20 chip for the iPhone 18 models will be manufactured with TSMC's third-generation 3nm process, known as N3P. That is the same process that is expected to be used for the A19 and A19 Pro chips coming in the iPhone 17 models, so the iPhone 18 models could have relatively small overall performance improvements compared to the previous generation.
Pu does expect the A20 chip to have one upgrade that he said will benefit Apple Intelligence capabilities. Specifically, he said the chip will use TSMC's so-called Chip on Wafer on Substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology, which would allow for tighter integration of the chip's processor, unified memory, and Neural Engine.
If this information is accurate, the first iPhone chip to use TSMC's 2nm technology would be the A21 chip in 2027 at the earliest.
