Apple’s most popular devices could get even more expensive next year, with chip-maker TSMC said to be planning its biggest price increase in more than a decade. The move could also affect companies like Nvidia and Qualcomm.
Sources are blaming the price hike on a number of factors, including higher material costs and the ongoing chip shortage, which has encouraged some device vendors to buy up more components than they actually need.
iPhone 13 may not be as affordable as iPhone 12, after all. A new report claims Apple is planning to hike prices for its next-generation smartphone lineup to cover the rising costs of its powerful chipsets.
Apple’s primary chip supplier, TSMC, has reportedly notified all customers that it will be increasing prices by as much as 20%, starting in January 2022.
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.
Apple’s computers could take another step ahead of the competition in 2022 with processors made with a 3nm process. This would bring better performance to iPhone and/or Mac while using less power than its current chips.
The Mac-maker’s current processors are made with a 5nm process, which already puts them ahead of the curve.
Apple chipmaker TSMC, which makes both Apple’s A-series and Apple Silicon chips, says that its production lines have been hit by a gas leak. This has affected some of its chip production — including the advanced chip fab used for upcoming iPhones and Macs.
“To ensure that there will be no issues with production quality, TSMC is currently carrying out stringent follow-up operations,” TSMC said. It told Reuters that it doesn’t expect this to he a “significant impact” on operations.
The 2022 iPad Pro could ship with a next-generation chipset manufactured using a cutting-edge 3-nanometer process, according to a new report out of Asia, citing several sources familiar with the matter.
The upgrade would lead to even greater performance for what is already one of Apple’s fastest mobile devices. But we may have to wait longer for the same technology to make its way to iPhone.
There’s a global semiconductor shortage, but Apple’s got a leg up on some of its rivals. According to a Tuesday report from Digitimes, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s largest chip fab, says it will prioritize Apple orders.
TSMC builds the A-series chips for iPhones, as well as the M1 chip for Macs and the latest iPad Pro. The company is currently working on the new A15 chips for this year’s iPhone refresh. Beyond that, it’s gearing up to produce next year’s A-series chips, which will be made with either a 4-nanometer or 3-nanometer process.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is already looking beyond the A15 chip that will come with this year’s iPhone 13. According to a Friday report, the world’s biggest chip fab is “fast advancing” its 4-nanometer and 3-nanometer processes ready for mass manufacturing.
Digitimes reports that TSMC’s 4-nanometer process will move into risk production in the third quarter of 2021. Risk production is a smaller production run of new hardware to sort out any problems. If there are none, TSMC can then progress to volume production. The same report also claims that TSMC’s 3nm production process will commence volume production in the second half of 2022.
TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor maker, has reportedly commenced production on the next-gen A15 chip for the iPhone 13.
It seems that Apple’s expecting to have a big hit on its hands, too. Digitimes reported Wednesday that “demand for the chip surpass that for its predecessor last year in scale, according to industry sources.”
Apple M- and A-series chipmaker TSMC is reportedly planning to build more than just the one chipmaking factory currently announced for the United States.
According to Reuters, the company — which is the world’s leading edge semiconductor manufacturer — plans to build “several more” in the state of Arizona. TSMC’s original intentions to build a $12 billion chip factory in AZ were announced in May 2020.
