Remember when buying a smartphone was an easy task? These days, to be an informed consumer, you need to know not only the name of the application processor (AP) that runs a device, but you also have to know which foundry produced the chip and the process node that was used. And then, after you obtain all of this information, you can try to find out how many transistors are in that chipset. Does the chip have a configuration that makes it likely to overheat?
The answers to these questions can be the difference between buying a phone that’s a great fit or one that might not be for you. Do you need a powerful phone? Do you need one with great battery life? Or is your focus on the cameras (pun clearly intended) or on AI features?
From the 20nm A8 bionic (2018) to the current 3nm A17 Pro, the transistor count has grown from 4.3 billion to 19 billion
The 20nm A11 bionic powered 2017’s iPhone 8 line and carried 4.3 billion transistors
We’ve often discussed why phone enthusiasts like to know things like the number of transistors inside a chip which is known as the transistor count. It all goes back to the process node used by the foundry to build the chip. The lower the number (for example, 3nm is lower than 5nm), the smaller the size size of the transistors. Smaller transistors mean that more can fit inside the inside of a chip and that increases the transistor count. The higher the transistor count, the more powerful and energy-efficient a chip is.
TSMC, for the first time, reveals that its 1.4nm node will follow 2nm
The 1.4nm process node will be called A14 by TSMC and while the foundry didn’t publicly announce a date when it might start high-volume manufacturing (HVM) at 1.4nm, based on the current outlook for 2nm, we could be looking at 2027 or 2028 before TSMC starts HVM at that node.
It is expected that the transistors used with A14 will remain the Gate-All-Around (GAA) variety which covers the channel on all four sides to reduce current leakage and increase the drive current. This results in more powerful chips with reduced power consumption. TSMC will start using GAA transistors with its 2nm production while Samsung Foundry already uses them on its 3nm chips.
