iPhone 17 does not get 2nm technology

Apple will probably not yet make the leap to the latest chip technology available for its upcoming iPhone series. In order to keep costs under control, the company will probably forego some hardware advantages.

Small update planned

Like from a magazine report WCCFTech As can be seen, Apple will continue to use chips in the iPhone 17 series that are built by TSMC using the 3-nanometer process. However, the plan is to switch to an improved process technology called “N3P”. This means that the expected A19 and A19 Pro chips will not switch to the 2-nanometer technology, which TSMC actually wants to have in use by then.

Only in 2026, with the introduction of the iPhone 18, could the new A20 and A20 Pro chips be converted to the more advanced 2-nanometer lithography. Apple also plans to abandon the previously used InFo packaging (Integrated Fan-Out) and instead introduce a new packaging technology called WMCM (Wafer-Level Multi-Chip Module).

According to experts, the decision not to immediately use 2-nanometer technology in 2025 could be due to the high production costs for the chips. Therefore, this technology is expected to be reserved for the iPhone 18 models. The new A20 and A20 Pro chips should not only benefit from TSMC’s 2-nanometer process, but also rely on WMCM packaging, which enables more complex chip designs.

Risky hesitation

Apple currently uses InFo technology for the A18 and A18 Pro chips, which integrates components such as DRAM and the CPU/GPU cores in a compact housing. This improves performance and saves space. The new WMCM packaging goes a step further by combining multiple chips into a single package. This technology allows components such as the CPU, GPU and the Neural Engine chip to be flexibly arranged, either stacked vertically or placed next to each other.

This gives Apple more leeway in developing more powerful chips. It can be assumed that Apple closely coordinated such a decision to slow down process technology with TSMC. So far, the US company has always invested heavily in the latest manufacturing processes and is therefore an important factor in driving their development forward. Here, Apple management must have ensured that a possible competitor does not suddenly take its place and thus get access to the latest designs earlier.