It is reported that Apple has launched the core design of the M3 chip: code name Malma, using TSMC N3E enhancement process.
CTOnews.com, August 23 (Xinhua)-- according to Taiwan's Industrial and Commercial Times, the core design of Apple's new M3 SoC has been launched and will be released as early as the second half of 2023.
Apple's M3 chip, code-named "Malma", will be mass-produced on TSMC's N3E architecture. N3E is said to be an improved variant of N3 process, which is also 3nm. Compared to N5, N3 can provide up to 15% performance improvement and up to 30% energy efficiency improvement, and N3E will further widen these differences.
In an optimistic state, the M3 chip could be launched in the second half of 2023 or the first quarter of 2024, the report said. Next year we will see Apple's first 3nm chips, and as mass production begins, Apple will also import them into the A17 Bionic chip used in the iPhone 15 Pro / Pro Max.
The M3 can be used in products such as the MacBook Air, and Apple is likely to increase the display size of this model to improve cooling through stronger cooling solutions. Other potential products include the updated iPad Pro series, as well as the updated iMac, as well as possible future iPad Air. M3 will probably use 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores again, just like M2 and M1.
According to the supply chain, after September, Apple began to use TSMC 3nm (N3) to mass-produce the M2X chip codenamed Rhodes, and divided into two processors, M2 Pro and M2 Max, according to the core, which will be installed on the new generation MacBook Pro and Mac Studio.
CTOnews.com learned that Apple began to reposition its iPhone 14 product line and target market this year, with the iPhone 14 using the A15 application processor and the iPhone 14 Pro series with the new A16 application processor using TSMC 5nm (N4).
The research and development of a new generation of A17 application processor codenamed Coll is nearing finalization, and it is expected that TSMC 3nm (N3) will be used in mass production between the second and third quarters of next year, and it is expected to be available on the iPhone 15 Pro series phones to be launched in the second half of next year, as well as the iPhone 16 series phones thereafter.
