The latest Qualcomm, Samsung, and MediaTek chips are all based on the 4nm processing tech, which is a derivative of the 5nm manufacturing tech which was used to manufacture last year’s high-end chips. Earlier it was believed that Apple would also opt for the intermediate node for iPhone 14’s A16 Bionic chip but a spate of new rumors suggest the company will stick with the 5nm tech.
A smaller processor node allows chipmakers to cram more transistors into the same place and as transistors get smaller, they get faster and consume less energy. Last year’s A15 Bionic was made using the 5nm tech, and although this was the same as the fabrication process used for the A14, changes made elsewhere led to an improvement of around 10 percent in CPU performance and up to 30 percent in graphics performance. The A15 Bionic was also 50 percent faster than last generation chips from Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Samsung.
Some earlier rumors had said that this year’s 6.1-inches iPhone 14 and 6.7-inches iPhone Max would stick with the A15 Bionic and the 6.1-inches iPhone 14 Pro and 6.7-inches iPhone 14 Pro Max would be powered by a new chip based on TSMC’s 4nm process.
Recently, leaker ShrimpApplePro said that the A16 Bionic will not be based on the 4nm process. They added that the chip will benefit from an upgraded CPU and GPU and faster LPDDR5 RAM.
Reliable Apple insider Ming-Chi Kuo has now backed up the claim about Apple sticking to the 5nm process for the A16.
Both Shrimp And Kuo explain that the N4 process isn’t that much of an improvement over N5P, and any gains would have been minimal. This can be argued as Qualcomm’s latest flagship chip, the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 appears to have benefited from TSMC’s 4nm process.
Regardless, the A16 Bionic will presumably still have more power than the average person needs and will most likely maintain its edge over competing chips. This could help the iPhone 14 become the phone of 2022.
According to rumors, the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max will sport cutouts for the Face ID tech and selfie camera, whereas the regular models will retain the notch. The premium models are also highly likely to flaunt a new 48MP camera. All the phones in the lineup are expected to get satellite connectivity and a better selfie camera.
