Apple iPhone 17 Pro could be the first smartphone with TSMC’s 2nm chip

Rumor mill: Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 16 lineup this September, while the iPhone 17 series is slated to arrive in 2025. Multiple leaks have already given us a sneak peek into this year’s handsets, and now the rumor mills are abuzz with information about what specs next year’s lineup could be packing, including a 2nm chip from TSMC.

According to a new report from Taiwan’s Digitimes, the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max will be the first phones powered by a 2nm processor. The new “N2” chips will be built by TSMC and go into production later this year, although mass manufacturing will only begin in 2025. The report does not reveal the name of Apple’s 2nm SoC, but going by the company’s naming convention, it could be called the A19 Pro.

Alongside the 2nm N2 chips, TSMC is also said to be working on an enhanced 2nm process node, known as “N2P.” It is expected to go into mass production in late 2026, but it’s not known whether it will be first seen in the iPhone 18 Pro or the iPhone 19 Pro. Following the roll out of the 2nm chips, TSMC is expected to focus on 1.4nm processors that the company reportedly refers to as “A14.”

Not much is known about TSMC’s 2nm process node, but the company recently claimed that it will increase the transistor density by 15 percent over the N3E process that’s expected to underpin the A18 Pro in the upcoming iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max. The increased transistor density is said to improve performance by 10-15 percent and power efficiency by 25-30 percent.

Apple is also expected to release Macs with 2nm chips in the future, but the report does not specify a timeline for their roll out. The company recently launched new 13.6-inch and 15.3-inch MacBook Air models powered by the 3nm M3 chip, but is not expected to unveil any new Macs this year. The M3 is almost 20 percent faster than the M2 and has improved graphics capabilities, such as hardware-accelerated ray tracing, so it will be interesting to see what the 2nm M-series chips will bring to the table.