Apple and Intel are moving to 2nm chips next year — here's what we know

MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3 Max, 2023)
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

We’re currently living in a 3nm world, but as of now, the only residents are of an Apple persuasion. That’s because the Cupertino crew snapped up all of TSMC’s initial stock of this new standard — leading to impressive performance gains and power efficiency.

However, for the chip manufacturer’s move to the even smaller 2nm process, the competition isn’t taking any chances. TSMC looks set to start mass producing these new processors in 2025, and both Apple and Intel are at the front of the line for them. 

This info comes from Taiwan Economic Daily, and it’s a clear sign of how the “speeds and feeds” rivalry is beginning to heat up.

Swimming in the Nova Lake

Intel Meteor Lake laptops on a shelf at Intel's unveiling event

(Image credit: Future)

This is, technically, our first (sort of) concrete details about what to expect, and we can map that to what we’ve seen from leakers. On the Intel side, according to Moore’s Law is Dead, Nova Lake looks set to pack 16 performance cores and 32 efficiency cores, alongside 4 cores with a far lower power consumption. 

This is a dramatic step up in cores when you compare it to the maximum you find in Intel’s current crop of chips — the Core Ultra 9 (6 performance, 8 efficiency, and 2 low power efficient-cores). On paper, that should make for a big boost in both CPU tasks and graphics, along with a tasty improvement in power efficiency. Maybe it won’t be as mid at anything other than AI tasks like Meteor Lake.

Meanwhile, Apple’s 2nm chips are a little more up in the air in terms of specifics. All we can pretty safely predict is that it will be the first company to get them towards the end of next year, whereas Intel will probably launch this new generation in early 2026 — aligning with the consistent timing of these companies.

Why do I say that? Well, Intel always launches its new generation chips at the beginning of every year, whereas Apple begins its new crop of chips in the fall with the pro iPhone. Aligning this with the predicted 2025 launch, it would be fair to expect the iPhone 17 Pro to be the first to get a taste of 2nm power, and the Macs to follow shortly after with M5.

What does 2nm mean for you?

With a reduced size in processor nodes, you will get better performance and lower power consumption — thanks to the 20% increase in the number of transistors. Signs point to this new process offering up to a 30% performance boost.

Given how blazingly fast the likes of the M3 Max MacBook Pro and iPhone 15 Pro are now, that is another huge step forward in all demanding tasks, which will be felt across all aspects including AI processing.

We’ll be reporting on each new leak or rumor that appears, which given TSMC is looking to start what is called “risk” production towards the end of this year (i.e. testing its production tech and analyzing for any potential threats to chip quality), you will be seeing more over the next few months.

More from Tom's Guide

Category
Arrow
Arrow
Back to MacBook Air
Brand
Arrow
Processor
Arrow
RAM
Arrow
Storage Size
Arrow
Screen Size
Arrow
Colour
Arrow
Storage Type
Arrow
Condition
Arrow
Price
Arrow
Any Price
Showing 10 of 39 deals
Filters
Arrow
Show more
TOPICS
Jason England
Managing Editor — Computing

Jason brings a decade of tech and gaming journalism experience to his role as a Managing Editor of Computing at Tom's Guide. He has previously written for Laptop Mag, Tom's Hardware, Kotaku, Stuff and BBC Science Focus. In his spare time, you'll find Jason looking for good dogs to pet or thinking about eating pizza if he isn't already.

Read more
iPhone 16 Pro Max
iPhone 18 may miss out on this performance upgrade — what we know
Apple M5 chip render
Apple M5 'high-end' chips may enter mass production in 2025 — here's when it could arrive on MacBook Pro and iPad Pro
Apple M5 chip render
Apple M5 chip reportedly entering mass production — here's the devices that will get it first
Intel Arc chips
Intel Nova Lake CPU specs leaked — and it's tipped to double PC performance
Intel Core Ultra 200H
Intel Core Ultra 200H and HX Series chips are here — everything you need to know
Intel CPU
Intel's Panther Lake appears in public for the first time — what we know about the new chip
Latest in Computing
Razer Blade
Nvidia's DLSS 4 demo in a Razer Balde 16 with RTX 5090 gives me hope again for next-gen gaming laptops
A white Lemokey P1 HE magnetic keyboard
I’m a mechanical switch die-hard — then I tested this magnetic keyboard, now I’m a believer
Innocn 49QR1 on desk
I ditched my dual monitor setup for this ultrawide OLED monitor — and it's a total game changer
MacBook Pro 2023
New Mac attack is tricking users into thinking their computer is locked — how to stay safe
Large group of protesters in Turkey following Instanbul mayor's arrest
Turkey sees huge VPN usage spike amid reports of social media crackdown
spring sale glasses deals
Best Amazon Spring Sale smart glasses deals — my favorite AR glasses are cheaper than ever
Latest in News
Segway g30lp
Segway recalls 220,000 electric scooters - what to do if yours is on the list
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra vs S25 Plus vs S25
Satellite messaging on Google Pixel 9 and Samsung Galaxy S25 just landed on 3 more carriers
L-R: Claude (Marco Calvani), Danny (Colman Domingo), Kate (Tina Fey) and Jack (Will Forte) have their bags packed for Netflix's "The Four Seasons"
Netflix just teased a new comedy series starring Tina Fey, Steve Carrell and Colman Domingo — and we already have a release date
back of Iris Pixel 9a
The Google Pixel 9a is lacking one of the Pixel 9’s best safety features — here’s what we know
Razer Blade
Nvidia's DLSS 4 demo in a Razer Balde 16 with RTX 5090 gives me hope again for next-gen gaming laptops
Striped lawn
Expert reveals the kitchen waste item that can help you create a green and healthy lawn