TSMC is the world’s largest pure-play semiconductor maker and 20% of its entire revenue comes from making processors for Apple. The Taiwanese chip-maker produces all the CPUs for Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.
The company that makes all Apple’s chips is nearly ready to make 5 nanometer processors, down from the 7nm ones it’s manufacturing now. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s innovation reportedly will bring notable performance gains to next year’s iPhone and iPad.
The 2021 models should get a boost as well. And it’s even possible these chips will appear in future Macs.
Someone who helped make the iPad and iPhone as powerful as they are has reportedly departed Apple. Gerard Williams III led the team that created every A-series processor since the A7, but no more.
Moving macOS computers from Intel processors to ones Apple has created itself seems to be on schedule. At least, that’s what Intel thinks, according to a recent report.
This is likely a part of bringing all the software that runs on iPhone, iPad and Mac together.
Apple is apparently dropping Dialog Semiconductor, its U.K.-based power management chipmaker. If true, the move would lend increased credibility to rumors that Cupertino plans to design its own chips for future iPhones.
Dialog Semiconductor says that, for now, it continues to provide chips to Apple. But the company’s chief executive acknowledged that this arrangement could well change “in the next few years.”
An Apple hiring spree in the United Kingdom shows just how serious the company is about building its own graphics technology. Apple recently parted ways with British company Imagination Technologies, which previously provided the graphics processing units for iOS devices.
Advertisements posted by Apple include positions in graphics unit design at the company’s U.K. Design Centre. Jobs listed include engineering program manager, design verification lead, emulation engineer and other roles described as requiring GPU knowledge.
The enormous iPad Pro has an appropriately huge graphics processor.
A teardown analysis by electronics firm Chipworks has revealed details of the new A9X processor that powers the Apple’s plus-size tablet, including the 12-cluster GPU that’s twice as powerful as the A9 processor found in the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.
Here’s a closer look at the chip:
