Kuo: TSMC's 2021 public roadmap suggests that 2022's iPhone “A16” chip will continue to use a 5nm process and new Macs later in 2022 will also have a 5nm CPU
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple’s move to its own Mac processors began with designs based on the 5nm A14 chip, according to earlier coverage. The reported 2022 roadmap therefore extends a shared manufacturing-node foundation across iPhone and Mac rather than marking an immediate process transition.
The next reported Mac-node step was 3nm production for Macs as soon as 2023. That sequencing makes the 2022 5nm overlap consequential as a bridge between Apple’s initial in-house Mac chips and its planned next-generation designs.
First-order effects
- Apple’s 2022 iPhone A16 and later Mac CPU plans would remain on TSMC’s 5nm process, keeping both product lines on an established node for that cycle.
- TSMC would continue supplying 5nm capacity for Apple’s mobile and Mac processors while the reported 3nm Mac plans remained a later step.
Second-order effects
- A 2022 5nm Mac CPU narrows the near-term differentiation available from a node shrink, placing greater weight on Apple’s chip design choices until the reported 3nm transition.
- The reported schedule concentrates Apple’s next process-node change into the subsequent Mac roadmap, tying its timing more closely to TSMC’s readiness for 3nm production.
Third-order effects
- The coverage points to Apple coordinating iPhone and Mac silicon roadmaps around TSMC node availability: 5nm underpins the early Mac transition, while 3nm is positioned as the next reported Mac advance.
- If that cadence persists, foundry process transitions become a central constraint on when Apple can deliver major silicon-generation changes across both device families.
The trend: Apple’s in-house silicon strategy is increasingly organized around synchronizing iPhone and Mac CPU generations with TSMC’s manufacturing-node roadmap.