What is a nanometer and what does that mean for us?

Each Apple device includes a chip, such as the A13 Bionic found on the iPhone 11 series and the A12Z Bionic on this year's iPad Pro models. Each chip consists of a nanometer configuration, although this isn't usually advertised, at least to the everyday device buyer. What are nanometers? It's time to find out!

About Nanometers

Machine CPUs use billions of tiny transistors that perform calculations. The smaller the transistor, the less power that's involved. Looked another way, smaller electronics are more power-efficient, which means they can do more calculations using less energy.

For many years, Moore's Law successfully showed that the number of transistors on a chip doubled every two years just as the costs were halved. In recent years, transistor sizes are no longer following this schedule, although they are still shrinking.

For example, in 1987, leading semiconductor companies manufactured 800nm chips. By 2001, that number had dropped significantly to 130nm. Today, you'll most likely hear about 7nm and 10nm chips. The former typically refers to TSMC's process, while the latter defines Intel's newest fabrication process. Within two years, we could see our first 3nm chip.

Why it matters

Without getting stuck in the weeds, understand that smaller transistors are more power-efficient, which means they can do more calculations using less energy. Because this leads to smaller die sizes, they are also less expensive to produce and can lead to more cores per chip.

Better performance isn't the only benefit of smaller transistors. Longer battery life is also expected, and speed increases significantly from generation to generation.

What about iPhones?

Apple-designed processors for iPhones have naturally improved significantly over the years as the size of the transistors on chips has shrunk. The first iPhone (2007) and iPhone 3G, for example, used a 90nm fabrication process by Samsung. By 2009 and the iPhone 3GS, Samsung was using a 65nm fabrication process.

Here's a breakdown of the chips used on every primary iPhone since 2010:

• This was the first system-on-chip (SoC) integrated chip used by Apple on a mobile device.

• Cupertino noted the A5 did twice the work as the A4 and offered nine times the graphics performance.

• Twice as fast as it's predecessor with twice the graphics power.

• Again, Apple said this chip was twice as fast and had up to twice the graphics power compared to the Apple A6.

• The first chip that didn't come from Samsung, the A8, offered 25% more CPU performance and 50% more graphics performance than the previous model. It also draws 50% less power.

• Dually produced, the Apple A9 processor offered 70% more CPU performance and 90% more graphics performance.

Apple said the chip offered 50% more graphics performance on this one.

• Twenty-five (25%) percent faster than the A10 Fusion, and 30% faster graphics.

Here, you'll find a 35% faster single-core and 90% faster multi-core CPU performance than its predecessor.

• Apple says the two high-performance cores are 20% faster with a 30% reduction in power consumption, and the four high-efficiency cores are 20% faster with a 40% reduction in power when compared to the A12.

iPad tweaks

Over the years, Apple has slightly tweaked existing chipsets for iPad use. For example, the 2020 iPad Pro includes an Apple A12Z Bionic chip. Before this, iPad chips were largely denoted by an "x" after the name. In all cases, the nanometer process remained the same, as you can see here:

• Offered twice the graphics performance of the A5.

• Provided twice the CPU performances and up to twice the graphics performance of the A5X.

• Featured 40% more CPU performance and 2.5 times the graphics performance as the A7.

• Offered 80% more CPU performance and two times the GPU performance of its predecessor, the A8X.

• The chip provided 30% faster CPU performance and 40% faster GPU performance compared to the A9X.

• Featured 35% faster single-core and 90% faster multi-core CPU performance than its predecessor, the A10X.

• The Apple A12Z Bionic processor is the same as its predecessor, the A12X chip, but with an extra GPU core enabled.

Looking Ahead

The 2020 iPhone 12 lineup is almost certainly going to contain an Apple A14 chip. Rumors suggest the chip will include TSMC's latest 5nm process. By as early as 2022, we should see the world's first 3nm in commercial devices. From there, it won't be long before we drop below the 1nm mark.

The bottom line: History tells us the smaller the nanometer fabrication process, the better the speed, performance, and battery life, and lower the price. Look for this trend to continue in the coming years.