We’re just weeks away from Apple unveiling its iPhone 17 lineup, but a new report corroborates prior indications that next year’s iPhone 18 models are due for an especially strong performance boost thanks to innovations with the A20 chip.
A20 chip in iPhone 18 will bring new packaging process for greater gains
Today Ming-Chi Kuo has published a new report on Eternal Materials securing a packaging order from TSMC for next year’s iPhones and high-end M5 MacBooks.
The most noteworthy detail involves why Eternal won the contract, which involves the processor packaging change that’s happening with next year’s A20 chip.
In 2H26, the iPhone 18’s A20 processor packaging will shift from InFO to WMCM (Wafer-level Multi-Chip Module). WMCM uses MUF (Molding Underfill), which integrates underfill and molding processes, reducing material consumption and process steps to improve yield and efficiency.
What does any of that mean? Great question.
Fortunately, my colleague Marcus already explained it well earlier this summer when another analyst shared similar expectations:
WMCM allows different components, like the SoC and DRAM, to be integrated directly at the wafer level, before being diced into individual chips.
It uses a technique that connects the dies without needing an interposer or substrate, which can bring both thermal and signal integrity benefits.
In other words, Apple’s next-gen chip won’t just be smaller and more power-efficient thanks to N2. It’ll also be physically closer to its onboard memory, enabling better performance and potentially lower power consumption for tasks like AI processing and high-end gaming.
Top comment by Lenny Valentin
I'm left wondering a bit how this is actually accomplished, and the purpose behind it. Putting DRAM and the SoC on the same physical chip raises some questions how that will be accomplished, as DRAM and digital circuitry typically require different manufacturing processes. Are the wafers run through different fabs twice, once to create one set of features, and then the other set of features in a different fab? Sounds...expensive. And complicated, this setup won't improve yields, that's for sure.
It also makes the combined SoC/DRAM die physically larger, which means it needs more board space - that's the whole point of stacking the DRAM in the first place, to reduce board area.
The iPhone 18 line’s new A20 chip will reportedly have two big improvements:
- Built with a 2nm process for the first time
- And using WMCM for even more improvement
These expected upgrades to performance will no doubt be well suited for AI tasks, which users should hopefully have a lot more of by next fall.
In addition to the growing popularity of AI products like ChatGPT, there’s also a brand new, more powerful Siri reportedly launching next spring.
So while current iPhones may seem plenty fast for current needs, the iPhone 18’s A20 chip should set users up well for an AI-saturated future.
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