Forget iPhone 17 — iPhone 18 could get this huge upgrade
The iPhone 17 is round six months from launch, however it might be value holding off a 12 months for the subsequent era should you can. The analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has not solely doubled down on his prediction from six months in the past that Apple will introduce 2nm chips for the iPhone 18 Professional, however advised that common fashions could now even be in line for the upgrade.
“Reiterating my prediction from six months in the past: the 2H26 new iPhones (iPhone 18) will probably be powered by TSMC’s 2nm chips,” he wrote on X.
Reiterating my prediction from six months in the past: the 2H26 new iPhones (iPhone 18) will probably be powered by TSMC’s 2nm chips.Value noting, TSMC’s 2nm R&D trial yields reached 60–70% three months in the past, and so they’re now nicely above that. https://t.co/ZoWXFqfUnSMarch 22, 2025
Whereas he states this is a reiteration of the sooner message, it’s barely totally different. In September, he added, “Attributable to value considerations, not all new iPhone 18 fashions could also be outfitted with a 2-nanometer processor.” That caveat isn’t repeated right here, suggesting that even the common iPhone 18 will profit from the upgrade — one thing different analysts have beforehand predicted.
Assuming we’re not studying an excessive amount of into what’s admittedly an ambiguous sentence, the rationale for this could be revealed within the second a part of the put up. “Value noting, TSMC’s 2nm R&D trial yields reached 60–70% three months in the past, and so they’re now nicely above that,” Kuo wrote.
Attributable to value considerations, not all new iPhone 18 fashions could also be outfitted with a 2-nanometer processor.
In this context, “yield” refers back to the proportion of useful chips used per silicon wafer. The next quantity is less expensive, for apparent causes, and up to now, {hardware} from numerous corporations has been delayed as a consequence of poor yields. That doesn’t sound like will probably be an issue with the A20 chip.
Whereas patrons can nonetheless count on a efficiency enhance from newer chips constructed to the identical fabrication course of, decreasing the dimensions makes issues a lot simpler. The decrease the nanometer worth, the tighter packed the transistors, that means faster sign journey for sooner efficiency and better effectivity.
This doesn’t imply that the iPhone 17 will probably be value skipping. The iPhone 17 Professional feels like a strong upgrade from the iPhone 16 Professional, with a collection of spectacular sound enhancements.
If present rumors are to be believed, you possibly can count on a daring new design to accompany a sooner chipset with higher efficiency underneath stress, extra RAM, a brand new 48MP telephoto lens, higher selfies and sooner charging. We’ll discover out if these are true in September, when the iPhone 17 household is unveiled, in all probability alongside the Apple Watch 11.
