Apple will likely bake its next iPhone soc in the same process as the current A15 Bionic. According to ‘quite reliable sources’, the A16 states that it is manufactured on TSMC’s 5nm process ShrimpApplePro† For Mac computers, the new M2 chip will be removed to a new node.
The lack of a new manufacturing process indicates that the A16 Bionic will be a relatively modest upgrade compared to the A15. There were even reports that Apple would simply give the A15 a new name before, but this new rumor doesn’t go that far. There will be minor improvements for the CPU and gpu as well as the new lpddr5x memory.
A step towards 3nm technology for next-generation Macs is very close: The M2 will be Apple’s first chip to bake in this regard. Also, the M2 will be Apple’s first ARMv9 soc, it is expected.
A final M1 variant
Finally, the Cupertino company would work on another M1 version. The revamped M1 variant would have newer cores i.e. economical ‘Blizzard’ and powerful ‘Avalanche cores’. These architectures are also used in the A15 smartphone soc. By comparison, the current M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max and M1 Ultra are comprised of ‘Icestorm’ and ‘Firestorm cores’ respectively, just like the A14 Bionic we know from the iPhone 12 series.
It’s not clear yet how Apple will name this latest M1 chip, and little is known about the specs. It may be a model designed for a new Mac Pro and therefore probably has many cores. Alternatively, it could be a slightly more modest refresh that we’ll see on the redesigned MacBook Air.
Source:
Shrimp Apple Pro (Twitter)
Source: Hardware Info
