TSMC announces 5nm chipsets; could power iPhones in 2020

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has announced its plans for the 5nm process technology for mobile processors. The company claims to have improved speeds with its 5nm process relative to the previous iteration.

According to TSMC: "Compared with TSMC's 7nm process, its innovative scaling features deliver 1.8X logic density and 15% speed gain on an ARM Cortex-A72 core, along with superior SRAM and analog area reduction enabled by the processor architecture."

TSMC has been the only supplier of chips for Apple, which means the next A Bionic processor for the next iPhone could be a 5nm chip. MacRumors notes that TSMC has fulfilled all orders for the A10 Fusion, A11 Bionic, and A12 Bionic chips.

We could see the 5nm chips in as early as 2020 iPhones, with this year's flagships are said to feature the A13 processors with 7nm+ process. This might also see the launch of Qualcomm processors with the 5nm process in the future.

Recently, Qualcomm launched QCS400 SoC series chipsets for next-generation smart audio devices. The QCS400 SoCs claim to offer premium audio experiences throughout the home. They support up to 25 times longer standby with voice wakeup and extended 'un-plugged' battery life compared to the previous technology.

It also has 32 channels of integrated audio processing, support for Dolby Atmos audio and DTS:X as well as compatibility with Qualcomm DDFA amplifier technology and aptX audio.