TSMC's 2nm chips may debut in Pixel 11 before reaching Apple's iPhone 18

TSMC has reportedly begun mass production of its 2nm process, which is expected to power the Tensor G6 chip of Google's upcoming Pixel 11 series. Apple's A20 chips, along with next-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon and MediaTek Dimensity flagships, are also expected to move to the 2nm process, but Apple's September release will give Google a month's headstart and an early advantage over competitors that still use 3nm chips.

Even if the Pixel 11 series does house a next-gen chipset, improvements are expected to be modest. Google is said to be redesigning the chip with a smaller die and a new PowerVR GPU, aiming to reduce power consumption and manufacturing costs. Rather than chasing raw CPU or graphics performance, the focus appears to be on extending battery life and enhancing on-device AI tasks, including image processing and voice recognition.

The Pixel 11 family is widely expected to debut at Google’s "Made by Google" event on August 12. Apple’s A20 and A20 Pro chips are expected to launch a month later in for the form of the iPhone 18 Pro and foldable iPhone models in September. Qualcomm and Mediathek, for their part, are expected to follow some time later in the year with their Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Dimensity 9600, respectively.