Apple is likely to be the only major device maker in 2023 to adopt 3nm process technology from TSMC as Android and others fall even further behind.
According to a report by DigiTimes, Qualcomm and MediaTek, two of the largest chip makers, remain unsure on whether they want to follow in Apple’s footsteps and start producing 3nm chips in 2023. The chip makers are reportedly undecided given the “unclear sales prospects for Android handsets.”
Both Qualcomm and MediaTek are “caught in a dilemma over whether to follow Apple’s process upgrade in 2023,” the report notes. Qualcomm provides chips for many high-end Android flagships, including Samsung phones. The report notes that Qualcomm may have no choice but to adopt 3nm process technology if Samsung wants to “meet competition from Apple in the flagship handset market.”
Apple is widely expected to adopt TSMC’s 3nm technology this year, including for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Ultra’s A17 Bionic chip.
MacDailyNews Take: Even if they used the 3nm process, Qualcomm et al. cannot compete with Apple Silicon.
Please help support MacDailyNews. Click or tap here to support our independent tech blog. Thank you!
Shop The Apple Store at Amazon.
“unclear sales prospects for Android handsets.”
Snicker
I thought some smartphone companies that use Android were already showing Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 smartphones using the latest 3nm nodes. They were bragging about how powerful those SD8G2 chips were and saying how Apple is in deep trouble as the latest A-series chips were being beaten in various bench-marking scores. Maybe those were prototype devices they were showing and crowing about.
I wish apple would use the sweet 3nm TSMC madness for a performance focused workstation chip design. Something with 64 cores, high clock speed, best in class heat management and optimized for multi CPU configures. Modern desktop/workstation CPUs should need not priorotize battery life (power) at the sacrifice of processing power. Apple needs a separate CPU design for pro workstation/VR/content creation computers.
By many accounts the Mac Studio is such an excellent, high-performance machine (and portable too): https://www.provideocoalition.com/mac-studio-review-part-2-mac-studio-and-the-m1-ultra-for-video-editors/ The interesting benefit of the low power consumption is that it is essentially silent so that it does not need to be isolated in a separate room for production work like PCs. I expect the new Mac Pro will take this to another level this year (though probably at shriek-inducing prices).