Apple is planning to overtake its chip design for the 2026 iPhones, in a transfer that might mark the primary time it makes use of superior multi-chip packaging in a cellular gadget. It sounds difficult, however right here’s what this implies.
In accordance 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 attention-grabbing bit is how these chips can be assembled.
How these chips can be assembled
For the primary time, Apple is about to undertake Wafer-Stage Multi-Chip Module (WMCM) packaging for its iPhone processors. WMCM permits completely different parts, just like the SoC and DRAM, to be built-in immediately on the wafer degree, 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 convey each thermal and sign integrity advantages.
In different phrases, Apple’s next-gen chip received’t simply be smaller and extra power-efficient due to N2. It’ll even be bodily nearer to its onboard reminiscence, enabling higher efficiency and doubtlessly decrease energy consumption for duties like AI processing and high-end gaming.
Behind the scenes, Pu studies TSMC is constructing a devoted manufacturing line and expects to shortly ramp up by 2027:
“TSMC will set up a devoted WMCM manufacturing line at its AP7, leveraging tools and course of just like CoWoS-L with out on-substrate. We see TSMC is getting ready capability of as much as 50KPM by finish of 2026 and estimate the capability to achieve 110-120KPM by end-2027, because of the improve in adoption.”
What this implies
For Apple, this can be a large leap in chip design, just 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 approach into smartphones.
And when you’re questioning what this implies for the iPhone 18 Fold: it appears Apple isn’t simply reserving its most novel {hardware} for its type issue. It might even be the corporate’s testbed for next-gen silicon packaging.
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