5G iPhone Confirmed? Apple Supplier TSMC Showcasing Chip This Week At MWC

Apple’s 5G iPhone will not be releasing this year, according to new reports. Multiple outlets have claimed, however, that Apple may launch its first 5G iPhone in 2020. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the major supplier for Apple chipsets, has confirmed that it will be announcing its latest 5-nanometer process at the ongoing Mobile World Congress (MWC) tech trade fair today.

The cutting-edge 5nm chips will be designed to power 5G enabled smartphones. Hence, it appears that the Cupertino may launch its first 5G iPhone in the coming year.

Apple iPhones that were launched last year were fueled by 7nm Apple A12 Bionic chipsets. It is believed that the 2019 iPhones will be powered by Apple A13 SoC that will be designed with the 7nm processor.

According to Digitimes, the Taiwanese chip maker is likely to secure the first 5G chip orders from Apple in the coming year for the 2020 iPhones. The 5nm chip could be introduced as Apple A14. Compared to the Apple A12, it will be thinner and more power-efficient. The publication claimed that TSMC has also received orders for 7nm SoCs for 5G related applications such as HPC and Internet of Things (IoT) from multiple companies like AMD, NVIDIA, OmniVision and more.

TSMC will be using its Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUV) technology to build the 5nm chipset. Venture Beat reported that the company will start with the early production of the 5nm SoCs in the latter half of 2019. The Taiwanese company has claimed in the past that it hopes to produce 3nm chips by 2022.

Apple is one of the first companies to debut 7nm chipsets along with Huawei’s Kirin 980 and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855. After launching the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR with Apple A12 onboard, it had released the Apple A12X Bionic in 11-inch iPad Pro and 12.9-inch iPad Pro that were unveiled in October last year. There is a possibility that the new iPad models debuting later this year could be fueled by Apple A13X SoC.