CPU on the current iPhone line performs 385 times better than the one that powered first iPhone

As years go by, Apple’s A-series application processors get more powerful and energy-efficient

Things were so slow with EDGE connectivity that the only way to watch a YouTube video clearly was when you could find a Wi-Fi connection around you. Even worse, if you were using the Safari browser, you could not make or receive a call at the same time. If someone tried to call you while you were checking out the New York Times website, for example, your incoming calls went right to voicemail. In the case of an emergency, that is not good.

The A18 Pro powers the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. | Image credit-Apple

The A9 was a bit unusual since both Samsung and TSMC built the chipset for Apple. The latter built it on its 16nm process node while Samsung used its 14nm process. Despite Samsung’s use of a slightly more advanced process node, one benchmark test revealed that TSMC’s version of the A9 SoC provided iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus users as much as two additional hours of battery life. 

From the OG iPhone to iPhone 16 line, iPhone CPUs have had a 384.9x increase in performance

The A19/A19 Pro will both be built using TSMC’s third-generation 3nm process node. Next year’s A20 application processor should be the first A-series chips built by TSMC using its 2nm process node. As the process node gets smaller, so does the size of the transistors used on a chip. That increases the transistor density, which measures the number of transistors that can be packed into a specific area of a chip. This number is expressed as millions of transistors per square millimeter (MTx/mm²).

A higher transistor density means a chip is, in theory, more powerful and energy efficient than chips with a lower transistor density. After 2nm, TSMC is expected to start mass production of 1.4nm chips during the second half of 2028.