Tencent Digital News (Translated by: Duo Duo) According to foreign media reports, Apple’s chip foundry TSMC is collaborating with ARM to develop a 7nm manufacturing process, which is likely to be seen in future products such as the iPhone and iPad.
According to registration documents, this technology will enter the early production phase as early as 2017, but it will take some time before it can meet Apple’s large-scale production needs. Notably, the new 7nm manufacturing process will not only be used in smartphones and tablets but will also be applied to hardware products related to networks and data centers.
Currently, Apple’s A9 processor uses 14nm and 16nm processes, which come from TSMC and Samsung, respectively. TSMC is expected to use 10nm technology for production later this year. Therefore, we will not see 10nm chips in the new generation iPhone debuting in September. Instead, Apple will continue to use the 16nm process for manufacturing.
The advancement of manufacturing processes allows manufacturers to improve device performance while reducing energy consumption, all while saving internal space. The first Apple products to use the 7nm process are likely to be the iPhone 8, with a significant possibility for 10nm technology as well.
In 2016, TSMC was the sole manufacturer of Apple’s A10 processor, but it is uncertain whether TSMC can secure Apple’s processor orders in the future.
Source: Tencent Digital
MediaTek’s 10-Core Helio X20 Processor to Launch Next Month
Tencent Digital News (Translated by: Duo Duo) In the mobile chip sector, the era of “the more cores, the better” is over, and Qualcomm has also abandoned its previous octa-core design, returning to a quad-core design starting with the Snapdragon 820. However, MediaTek, while also a mainstream mobile chip manufacturer, seems to disagree, having released its ten-core processor Helio X20 last October. Now, MediaTek officially announces that the Helio X20 will begin shipping next month. Additionally, MediaTek has introduced a faster Helio X25, with a core frequency increase from 2.3GHz to 2.5GHz, equipped with a Mali-T880 MP4 GPU. The X25 will be revealed shortly after the X20’s launch.
Currently, MediaTek has not mentioned any specific manufacturers or products, but Meizu’s next flagship, Pro 6, may become the first product to use the Helio X25 processor, with everything still awaiting time to reveal the answer.
MediaTek’s Helio X20 processor is viewed as a direct competitor to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 processor, which uses a 14nm manufacturing process, supports 4K signal output, and is compatible with LTE Cat 12/13 bands. The previous Helio X10 processor was first used in the HTC One M9+ and Redmi Note 2, so we are also looking forward to products using the successor X20 processor. It is reported that the Helio X20 can reduce energy consumption by 30% compared to traditional dual-core processors while improving computational power by 15%.
Source: Tencent Digital
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