Apple is planning to overtake its chip design for the 2026 iPhones, in a transfer that would mark the primary time it makes use of superior multi-chip packaging in a cellular gadget. It sounds sophisticated, however right here’s what this implies.
In line with analyst Jeff Pu in a brand new report for GF Securities, the iPhone 18 Professional, 18 Professional Max, and the long-rumored iPhone 18 Fold are anticipated to debut Apple’s A20 chip, constructed on TSMC’s second-gen 2nm course of (N2).
However that’s solely a part of the story. The extra fascinating bit is how these chips will probably be assembled.
How these chips will probably be assembled
For the primary time, Apple is about to undertake Wafer-Stage Multi-Chip Module (WMCM) packaging for its iPhone processors. WMCM permits totally different parts, just like the SoC and DRAM, to be built-in immediately on the wafer stage, earlier than being diced into particular person chips.
It makes use of a method that connects the dies without having an interposer or substrate, which may deliver each thermal and sign integrity advantages.
In different phrases, Apple’s next-gen chip gained’t simply be smaller and extra power-efficient because of N2. It’ll even be bodily nearer to its onboard reminiscence, enabling higher efficiency and probably decrease energy consumption for duties like AI processing and high-end gaming.
Behind the scenes, Pu stories TSMC is constructing a devoted manufacturing line and expects to rapidly ramp up by 2027:
“TSMC will set up a devoted WMCM manufacturing line at its AP7, leveraging gear and course of much like CoWoS-L with out on-substrate. We see TSMC is making ready capability of as much as 50KPM by finish of 2026 and estimate the capability to achieve 110-120KPM by end-2027, as a result of improve in adoption.”
What this implies
For Apple, it is a huge leap in chip design, much like when it adopted 3nm forward of a lot of the trade. And for the broader cellular market, it means that applied sciences as soon as reserved for information heart GPUs and AI accelerators are making their method into smartphones.
And should you’re questioning what this implies for the iPhone 18 Fold: it appears Apple isn’t simply reserving its most novel {hardware} for its kind issue. It could even be the corporate’s testbed for next-gen silicon packaging.
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