Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac:
Apple is likely to establish a technical lead over most smartphone brands as the company moves to a 7nm process for the A12 chip that will power this year’s flagship iPhones. That lead could last well into next year.
And:
This leaves only Apple chipmaker TSMC with 7nm process capabilities, though Samsung has announced plans to develop its own 7nm process in an attempt to win back some of Apple’s A-series chip business. Apple used to split its chip orders between Samsung and TSMC, but the Taiwanese chipmaker beat Samsung to a 10nm process, and has been Apple’s sole supplier since the iPhone 7.
Fascinating. A smaller gap between chip elements means more elements per chip, faster data flow, less heat, and more energy efficiency.
Being first in this particular space to 7nm seems a big deal. That said, Huawei has a 7nm-chip-based phone said to ship in October, and Samsung is hard at work on their own 7nm chip, said to ship in early 2019.
Is it confirm that it’ll be 7 nm?
IIRC, higher density creates heat challenges, but the other benefits certainly apply. It also enables packing more functionality (cores, GPU, the A11’s neural engine) on a single chip.
That the iPhone SoC will be 7nm? No.
That TSMC is at 7nm production levels? Yes.
Given Apple’s close relationship with TSMC it’s no surprise that TSMC was first to go to production. As the article points out, production costs at this level aren’t sustainable for most companies. Apple probably dumped a lot of cash pre-payments to get the kinks worked out and the lines up and running.