Here’s how Qualcomm and MediaTek aim to surpass Apple chips in power, with TSMC the real winner

The latest rumors outline a scenario where Apple seems to have gotten ahead, securing a substantial portion of the initial production capacity of the 2-nanometer (N2) process from TSMC.

This aggressive move, aimed at ensuring supply for the future A20 and A20 Pro chips, risks leaving Android competitors with little more than crumbs.

However, Qualcomm and MediaTek do not seem inclined to stay on the sidelines: for their future flagship chipsets, namely the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and the Dimensity 9600, the two manufacturers would have planned a strategic transition to an enhanced variant of the production process, known as N2P.

Qualcomm and MediaTek choose TSMC’s N2P node

Although the decision to opt for the N2P node might initially appear as a forced move to circumvent the shortage of standard N2 wafers, the motivations seem to be much deeper and more ambitious.

According to some sources, including the insider Fixed-focus digital cameras on Weibo, the move to N2P would not only serve to guarantee an adequate supply and the “peace of mind” logistics, but would aim to unlock higher clock frequencies for CPUs.

It is interesting to note how the same leaker, who previously had refuted the claims of another well-known informant, Digital Chat Station, has now changed course, supporting the hypothesis of this technological transition.

The performance gap between the N2 node and its iteration N2P sits at around a modest 5 percent. It might seem a marginal increase to justify such a radical change in production plans, but in a sector where every megahertz counts, this “slight” advantage could prove decisive.

TSMC has facilitated this decision by keeping the design rules between the two processes unchanged, making the transition almost painless for its customers.

This will allow the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and the Dimensity 9600 to push their cores to higher frequencies, significantly improving performance in both single-thread and multi-thread, in an effort to close and surpass the gap with Apple’s solutions.

The battle for energy efficiency

Qualcomm and MediaTek’s race isn’t only about brute power, but also and especially efficiency, a realm where Apple has historically set the standard.

To understand the scope of the challenge, look at the data for the current generation: the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, while sharing with Apple’s A19 Pro the same 3nm “N3P” lithography, showed energy consumption 61% higher in Geekbench 6 tests to beat the rival.

Even more critical was the situation for the Dimensity 9500, which in the same comparison recorded the worst performance-per-watt ratio.

Apple’s advantage lies in a redesigned architecture that has allowed its efficiency cores to offer a 29 percent performance improvement without any increase in power draw compared to the A18 Pro. In this context, the adoption of the N2P process by Android manufacturers becomes crucial: the improved lithography is seen as the key tool to reduce this energy-efficiency gap against the future A20 and A20 Pro.

Technical specifications expected for the new flagship chips

Beyond the manufacturing process, the challenge will also hinge on peripheral specs. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and the Dimensity 9600 are expected to boast an advantage in bandwidth, thanks to support for LPDDR6 RAM and UFS 5.0 storage.

These technologies could offer the extra performance needed to compete on equal terms with Apple’s optimized ecosystem.

However, as always in this early phase, it is proper to approach this information with due caution. The on-paper specs tell only part of the story and we will need to wait for field tests to understand whether the bet on the N2P node will pay the expected dividends or if Apple will continue to hold the throne of efficiency in the mobile world.