Although Apple typically follows a two year cycle with process nodes, with the 7nm and 5nm processes lasting two years each – it seems highly likely that Apple is about to use the 3nm process for a third year in a row with the upcoming iPhone 17 lineup. There are a number of reasons for this, which we’ll be delving into.
3 year silicon cycle
Technically speaking, this isn’t the first time that we’ve had the same process node for three years in a row, it’s just that it was hidden the first time.
Apple introduced the A14 chipset, the first generation Apple Silicon built on TSMC’s 5nm architecture in 2020, followed by the A15, built on the second generation 5nm process, in 2021. After that, Apple introduced the A16 chipset with iPhone 14 Pro in 2022 – which was built on a “4nm” process.
However, the reality is, while it’s branded as 4nm to the public, TSMC refers to the N4 processed used in the A16 Bionic as part of the “5nm technology family”:
Next generation silicon fabrication simply isn’t being developed as fast as it used to, so we’re really on a 3 year release cycle now. In fact, we only saw the first 3nm chips in Apple devices in 2023 because Apple used an early production 3nm process (N3B) that most companies chose to skip over.
When to expect 2nm: iPhone 17 vs iPhone 18
While initial rumors suggested that the iPhone 17 would be built on the cutting edge 2nm manufacturing process from TSMC, that no longer seems to be the case, and supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that we’ll be seeing the third generation 3nm process, N3P, with the iPhone 17 lineup:
As Kuo stated, the iPhone 17 lineup won’t be using 2nm, and you should likely hold out for the iPhone 18 Pro models if you’re looking for the latest and greatest in silicon fabrication.
It seems likely that the base iPhone 18 models will stick to 3nm chips, so we could either see the same third generation N3P process as the iPhone 17 lineup, or perhaps the fourth generation N3X process. Time will tell.
2nm production
TSMC is expected to begin risk production of the first generation 2nm process (N2) at some point in 2025, with volume production taking place later in the year. This timeline would theoretically line up for the iPhone 17 launch, but for one reason or another, Apple has chosen to hold out.
This isn’t out of the ordinary, as the first generation 3nm process also began volume production in late 2022, but Apple still elected to not adopt it for another year.
Apple also isn’t expected to adopt 2nm for the M5 family of chips in Macs and iPads. Those chips will also use the third generation 3nm process, according to The Elec (via MacRumors).
It’ll be 2026 at the earliest before we see 2nm chips in Apple devices, according to current reporting.
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