iPhone 17 Pro will be first smartphone to receive TSMC's 2nm chip

The first devices that will receive 2 nm chips from the Taiwanese company TSMC will be the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, which will be released in the fall of 2025, DigiTimes reports.

According to the website, it was previously rumored that Apple has again pre-purchased the entire first batch of new generation chips. While it's never been known exactly what volumes we're talking about, according to the source, Apple is still the only one offering such chips with 3nm process technology, and it looks like it will remain the only one until the end of this year.

The iPhone 15 series of smartphones entered the market more than six months ago, the Apple M3 SoC (3nm) has been on the market for about the same time, and so far none of the competitors have released processors based on 3nm standards. According to the source, approximately the same will be the case with TSMC's 2nm process technology.

The Taiwanese company TSMC has two serious problems related to production. The first was caused by the largest earthquake in Taiwan in 25 years, which led to the flooding of the TSMC factory, where work is carried out on 2nm chips. Although up to 10,000 silicon wafers were damaged, insurance is expected to cover the damage and the lost chips can be recovered.

The second problem is related to the high costs associated with the operation of the chip manufacturing plant in the US state of Arizona. Although the company received a $6.6 billion grant from the US government, the total investment in the three plants will exceed $65 billion. In addition, the company is also seeking financing to build advanced factories in Germany and Japan.

However, experts are confident that all these difficulties will not affect Apple's chip supply schedule. Trial operation of the two nm chip production lines is planned for the second half of 2024, and small-scale production will begin in the second quarter of 2025. In this case, iPhone 17 Pro will become the first smartphone in the world with 2 nm chips.