tenthousandthings

REVISION

Adding some information I didn't include in my timeline about the A9. You'll see why I'm adding this info when I reply to Nubus's comment...

The A9 was dual-sourced, from both TSMC and Samsung, due to the introduction of FinFET transistors. Apple hedged its bet, sourcing from both. So the A9 line of my timeline should read:

A9 (September 2015) iPhone 6S :: iPad 5 [TSMC 16nm; Samsung 14nm]

jeff fields said:

thadec said:

I have seen in forums that the M3 still only supports 2 displays. Meaning that people are going to pay $1600 for an M3 MacBook Pro that can only support a single external monitor. Granted, the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 3 Chromebook can only support a single external monitor, but that is because it is a $280 device that runs on a 32 bit SOC that was designed in 2017. (Moreover it is technically a tablet and not a laptop.) So can someone please explain this limitation with Apple Silicon's base chips? Whatever it is, you can bet that the Qualcomm chips in 2024 as well as the Nvidia and AMD ARM chips in 2025 aren't going to have them.

That's two EXTERNAL 5K displays; i.e., a total of 3. And that's the minimum M3 config. Please do your research for at least five seconds before posting in public about this. Or watch the event. Or do, well, anything to be informed before misleading the entire thread.

PSA: This is just wrong. I don’t agree with Thadec’s take, but they are correct. If you’re going to lecture people about doing research, you might want to check your own. M3 supports one external 6K display.

M3 Pro supports the internal display plus two 6K or one 8K. M3 Max supports the internal display and three 6K and one 4K, or two 6K and one 8K.

Not sure how it happened, but a key piece of info got edited out of this summary. The NY Times is the source of the story about China and AI being at issue, while Variety is the source of the story that says the parting is amicable. 

We still have about a month before I will feel comfortable saying this, but it’s really starting to look like iMac will skip M2. This goes against everything I understood about Apple silicon for macOS. To the point where I still don’t really believe it. It’s unbelievable. I just don’t get it.

cpsro said:

ApplePoor said:

There is also an iPhone 15 Pro series CPU processor change mid year which might be a negative for the early adopters.

There is or will be a change to the process used by TSMC to produce the A17 Bionic? What do you know about this?

ApplePoor said:

Was posted on forum several weeks back. Initial ones until inventory is depleted then new "improved" model probably starting early next year, Apple had purchased "all" of the production of the first chip.

I think this is a reference to this rumor from June: Apple iPhone 15 chip manufacturing may shift to a less expensive track (Apple Insider)

But that is unsubstantiated and a typical sort of connect-the-dots rumor that often turns out to be wrong, because Apple's special, disruptive, and wildly-successful relationship with TSMC is still not very well understood, even though we are ten years into it at this point (it started with TSMC 20nm, with iPhone 6). Yes, it is confirmed that TSMC's mainstream 3nm production will shift to N3E, and the second-generation refinement N3P will be built on N3E, not N3 (the name of which has been changed to N3B to differentiate it from N3E). But that does not mean Apple will necessarily be included in that detour. It's entirely possible A17 Pro, M3, and M3 Pro/Max will all be N3, and not N3E. Not to mention the uncertain possibility of a non-Pro A17 next year (basically A17 without the "Pro" GPU, mirroring the now-established approach to M-series silicon).

For this perspective, see Daniel Nenni's comments on the June rumor: TSMC’s 3nm Output Could Reach Up To 100,000 Wafers Monthly By The End of 2023 (SemiWiki main forum post)

What gets lost behind the veil of secrecy is the reason why TSMC is sending everyone but Apple over to N3E. N3 is specific to Apple. As a result, it's not flexible enough for a wider array of customers. There's a deep dive into what is known here, but keep in mind that TSMC's published papers just sort of chart differences, they don't give away trade secrets: TSMC N3, And Challenges Ahead (WikiChip Fuse)

There's a very good chance Apple is happy with N3, and they won't be going over to N3E. The mysterious N3S could also be Apple-specific. Regardless, it will all merge back together with N2 and M4.