A new rumor claims that the Cupertino company is considering ditching TSMC for Intel with its A20 processor for the Apple iPhone 18 series. While this may seem a bit of a far-fetched idea there was a time in the not-too-distant past when Apple and Intel were partners. For those not in the know, Intel did provide custom processors for Apple’s MacBook Pro laptops from 2006 – 2021. Apple would then go on to develop its Apple Silicon and is currently using TSMC for its A18, and A18 Pro chipsets.
The iPhone 16 series launched a couple of months ago with the iPhone 17 series featuring the A19 expected to debut next year. The current series is using TSMC’s N3E node with next year’s switching to the N3P node but according to the same rumor, neither 3nm process is expected to see significant feature changes. However, in 2026, Apple could switch to a 2nm A20 made by Intel.
Per Fixed Focus Digital (machine translated):
- “There will not be a major breakthrough in the process in the short term. The next generation A19/Pro will still use TSMC’s 3nm process, which is expected to be the N3P solution.”
- “Intel A20’s 2nm is likely to be seen in iPhone 18, that is, in 2026.”
Per Notebookcheck:
- “Interestingly, however, the source claims the A20 chips will ditch TSMC entirely in favor of Intel. Supposedly, rather than contract TSMC to build the A20 chip for the iPhone 18 series, Apple will look to Intel and its 2nm 20A process.”
While this rumor does seem plausible many other factors in play could prevent it from happening. Intel continues to undergo changes which include restructuring of multiple divisions, including significant layoffs, and is also said to be outsourcing orders to TSMC. There’s also another rumor circulating that Apple is potentially developing an unnamed A20 2nm chip with TSMC as well. In the end, if any of these end up being true, TSMC could be the only real winner here regardless of whose brand name ends up with the A20 SoC.