Can the iPhone 16 be cheaper than the iPhone 15 Pro?
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Apple may change the technology of the A17 Bionic chip next year for the iPhone 16.
There will be significant differences between the initial and future versions of Apple’s A17 Bionic chip.
The key distinction lies in the manufacturing process, with the initial A17 chip utilizing TSMC’s N3B process.
The switch to N3E is primarily motivated by cost-cutting measures, potentially compromising some efficiency gains.
TSMC’s N3B process, developed in collaboration with Apple, represents the original 3nm node and has been ready for mass production.
N3E is a more accessible node with fewer EUV layers and lower transistor density.
Apple had originally planned to use N3B for the A16 Bionic chip but had to settle for N4 due to time constraints.
They also correctly indicated that the standard iPhone 14 models would feature the A15 Bionic chip, while the A16 would be exclusive to the iPhone 14 Pro models.