It seems that Apple is already planning the next step of its evolution. One of the company’s suppliers is allegedly getting ready to produce 3nm chips in the second half of 2022, while the chips with a 4nm process could begin in the following months.

According to Digitimes, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company could soon start producing the new A15 chip that’s expected to arrive in the upcoming iPhone 13 lineup. However, that’s not the only processor in Apple’s plans, as TSMC could also start working on the new 4nm chip production for future Macs.

“TSMC has claimed its N3 technology will be the world’s most advanced technology when it begins volume production in the second half of 2022. Relying on the proven FinFET transistor architecture for the best performance, power efficiency, and cost effectiveness, N3 will offer up to 15% speed gain or consume up to 30% less power than N5, and provide up to 70% logic density gain.”

Now, the report doesn’t provide further details about the 3nm chip or when we’ll see them in an Apple device, so we shouldn’t expect them soon. However, we could expect Intel to keep on being affected by Apple Silicon. It seems that Intel could see its market share fall once again because of Apple’s decision to use its proprietary processors in Macs.

The first step came with the launch of the M1 13-inch MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac mini, and the latest 24-inch iMac, which could make Intel lose around 50 percent of its orders from Apple in 2021. However, Apple could take up to two years to complete the transition from Intel to its proprietary chips, but the final result of this change could lead Intel’s market shares in the notebook market to drop below 80 percent in 2023.

“However, Apple’s in-house developed Arm-based processor series is expected to play the key role in taking a major chunk from Intel’s share in the upcoming year, the sources said.”
“Intel is expected to lose nearly 50% of its orders from Apple in 2021 and will eventually obtain no orders from the client. Losing Apple’s 10% market share and seeing AMD staying firmly with another 10%, Intel’s share in the notebook market is likely to slip below 80% in 2023, the sources noted.”

Still, we have seen rumors suggesting that we may get to see a new Mac featuring an Intel processor, so we will have to wait and see how this develops.

Source (1) Digitimes

Source (2) Digitimes

Via MacRumors