TSMC enters mass production of 'A13' chips in preparation for 2019 iPhone launch

Apple chip partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co has commenced production of the next iPhone System-on-Chip, the Apple-designed "A13," one that is thought to start mass production in May ahead of the annual iPhone refresh in September.

Firms in the iPhone supply chain are expected to be working to produce components in preparation for assembly of the latest iPhone models at this time of year. According to one report, this includes TSMC, the company tasked with manufacturing the all-important A-series chip that goes into the new releases.

According to an internal TSMC source of Bloomberg, the company went into early test production of the new A-series chip in April, with mass production planned for "as early as this month."

The A-series chip for 2019's iPhones is thought to be the "A13," a name that follows the trend of an annual numerical increment. While few details about the chip's capabilities are rumored, it is likely to include both general and graphical performance increases over earlier iterations.

TSMC's manufacturing capacity for its 7-nanometer production process will likely be pushed to the limit for this year's models, and could possibly freeze out TSMC's lines for its other clients entirely for the quarter. TSMC is also tipped to be using a new enhanced process for the "A13" from other previous 7-nanometer chips, with "N7 Pro," though exactly what the differences are from the established process remains unknown.

The "A13" could be the last A-series chip TSMC produces for Apple using a 7-nanometer process. The "A14" for 2020 may use a 6-nanometer process, while a 5-nanometer process is also under development that could be used for future versions.

The remainder of Friday's report contains no new information in regards to the new iPhones, that Ming-Chi Kuo from TF Securities hasn't already discussed. The 2019 iPhones are rumored to be called the "iPhone XI," "iPhone XI Max," and the "iPhone XE," updated variants of the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR. While staying relatively similar in terms of design, with an expected spec bump, the main change is the addition of an extra camera for each, with the two premium models having three cameras to the "XE" having two.

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64 Comments

ericthehalfbee 4489 comments · 13 Years

About 5 years ago

Huawei will make another “announcement” just before the next iPhone releases claiming they have the worlds first N7 processor in the world.

tmay 6455 comments · 11 Years

ericthehalfbee said:

Huawei will make another “announcement” just before the next iPhone releases claiming they have the worlds first N7 processor in the world.

Last year's 980 was about the same die size as the A12, and near the same transistor count, with the A12 again having about a 20% edge in performance. I don't expect that differential to change much this round. The big question in everyone's mind: will Huawei double down on another benchmark cheat?

tmay said:

ericthehalfbee said:

Huawei will make another “announcement” just before the next iPhone releases claiming they have the worlds first N7 processor in the world.

Last year's 980 was about the same die size as the A12, and near the same transistor count, with the A12 again having about a 20% edge in performance. I don't expect that differential to change much this round. The big question in everyone's mind: will Huawei double down on another benchmark cheat?

There won’t be anything big from Huawei this year. They (and Qualcomm) got lucky last year in that ARM finished their A76 core design in time to coincide with TSMC 7nm production. The “stars aligned” as they say, and that’s why the Kirin 980 was good (though still behind Apple).

This year there’s no new ARM cores to use, so all they can hope for are minor improvements from the slight change that N7 Pro will bring to their existing cores.

Meanwhile Apple gets the upgrade from N7 along with whatever changes they make to their custom cores. Nobody is going to touch the A13 this year, or well into 2020.

ericthehalfbee said:

tmay said:

ericthehalfbee said:

Huawei will make another “announcement” just before the next iPhone releases claiming they have the worlds first N7 processor in the world.

Last year's 980 was about the same die size as the A12, and near the same transistor count, with the A12 again having about a 20% edge in performance. I don't expect that differential to change much this round. The big question in everyone's mind: will Huawei double down on another benchmark cheat?

There won’t be anything big from Huawei this year. They (and Qualcomm) got lucky last year in that ARM finished their A76 core design in time to coincide with TSMC 7nm production. The “stars aligned” as they say, and that’s why the Kirin 980 was good (though still behind Apple).

This year there’s no new ARM cores to use, so all they can hope for are minor improvements from the slight change that N7 Pro will bring to their existing cores.

Meanwhile Apple gets the upgrade from N7 along with whatever changes they make to their custom cores. Nobody is going to touch the A13 this year, or well into 2020.

Good info. I had forgotten about that A76 timing.

avon b7 8008 comments · 20 Years

ericthehalfbee said:

Huawei will make another “announcement” just before the next iPhone releases claiming they have the worlds first N7 processor in the world.
Nope
.

Both the Kirin 970 and the Kirin 980 were formally presented at IFA 2017 and IFA 2018 respectively.

These are not 'announcements' but official launches of the new SoCs. The reason the launches are not tied to a product presentation is that Kirins end up in much more than typical mobile devices.

IFA is usually held in August. Logically, the SoC becomes official at launch and if there are firsts involved, they get mentioned.

This clearly irritates you for some reason as you continually jump on these stories. It shouldn't irritate you. It's how things work and there is no mystery involved.