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It’s annoying but pretty clearly about differentiating the Pro model, at least at first. This has been Apple’s strategy at least since the XS/XR: the high end m

by _23sd 3y ago

It’s annoying but pretty clearly about differentiating the Pro model, at least at first. This has been Apple’s strategy at least since the XS/XR: the high end model gets a better camera and higher performance SoC to entice consumers who want the best as well as the actual professional users. And recently they’ve apparently moved to having the base iPhone lag a year on the chip. USB3 requires a specific chip so the Pro gets it first. The question is, does the base iPhone get USB3 with the A17 series SoC next year, or does it join the camera as something to differentiate the Pro series? It would make sense to keep it in the pro model since fast USB transfers is something few consumers care about but pros care a lot about.

paulmd 3y ago
this is actually all about TSMC N3 and the problems they've been having getting it to work and yield. N3 itself is essentially canceled and split into two nodes: N3B (b for Bad), which has a small gain, and then N3E (E for Enhanced) which comes next year with the performance that was originally promised for N3 (now N3B). N3E is not design-compatible with N3B, and will yield better at lower cost (because they're replacing some DUV layers with EUV) once it's finally running. In theory. So basically this year they are releasing the A17 Pro on N3B, and the base-model phones get the old A16 (which does not have native USB3). Then probably next year they release A17 Bionic and update the base tier phones. It's also highly likely that the A17 Pro itself gets refreshed, since it will be lower cost on N3E (and this matters at Apple's scale, the validation/testing costs are worth it). And that's the point when they'll start doing M3 chips in laptops too, most likely - actually some analysts thought M3 non-Pro/Max was a possibility (smaller dies/higher yields) but I guess N3B yields are that bad.

by _23sd 3y ago

paulmd 3y ago

this is actually all about TSMC N3 and the problems they've been having getting it to work and yield. N3 itself is essentially canceled and split into two nodes: N3B (b for Bad), which has a small gain, and then N3E (E for Enhanced) which comes next year with the performance that was originally promised for N3 (now N3B). N3E is not design-compatible with N3B, and will yield better at lower cost (because they're replacing some DUV layers with EUV) once it's finally running. In theory. So basically this year they are releasing the A17 Pro on N3B, and the base-model phones get the old A16 (which does not have native USB3). Then probably next year they release A17 Bionic and update the base tier phones. It's also highly likely that the A17 Pro itself gets refreshed, since it will be lower cost on N3E (and this matters at Apple's scale, the validation/testing costs are worth it). And that's the point when they'll start doing M3 chips in laptops too, most likely - actually some analysts thought M3 non-Pro/Max was a possibility (smaller dies/higher yields) but I guess N3B yields are that bad.