One of the biggest advances in this year’s iPhones are the new Apple-made chips
Apple iPhone Pro A17 Pro chip.
Source: Apple Inc.
Apple today unveiled the new iPhone 15 to plenty of fanfare. But there’s also a big upgrade to the processor inside the 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max.
The new A17 Pro chip, designed by Apple, will have a six-core central processing unit and a six-core graphics processing unit. That’s one more GPU core than the A16 processor, which was found in last year’s iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max, and this year’s lower end iPhone 15 and 15 Plus.
The additional GPU core will enhance graphics performance, allowing new gaming capabilities such as ray tracing. The rendering technique allows for more realistic lighting of a scene for elements like reflections and shadows.
“They spent a lot of time emphasizing the GPU and that’s very telling,” said Ben Bajarin, CEO and principal analyst of Creative Strategies. “Camera, chip, GPU, visual experience, gaming: This is the next platform that takes iPhone the next four to five years.”
The enhanced graphics have led some game makers to create iPhone-native versions of their popular titles for the first time. Ubisoft‘s upcoming Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Capcom‘s Resident Evil 4 Remake are both set to come to the iPhone 15 Pro in the next year.
Apple’s latest processors are also its first chips to be made with 3-nanometer technology. As the most advanced semiconductor node currently available, it’s a likely culprit for the new generation’s price jump.
Advanced chips at this level are almost entirely made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC, and Apple is its largest customer. This has been a cause for concern amid growing concerns about China invading Taiwan.
TSMC is now building a massive $40 billion new chip manufacturing plant in Arizona, although those plans have hit delays due to a shortage of skilled semiconductor labor in the U.S. Asian-made chips were also hit hard during the yearslong chip shortage that led to slowdown in production for everything from smartphones to cars.
“It’s tough because of supply constraints of 3-nanometer. It’s going to be hard to get increased capacity as demand goes up,” Bajarin said. “They’ve got enough for the Pro and ProMax for a few months.”
Bajarin said the platform shift to 3-nanometer chips is a “big step” that Apple will use to put itself into a competitive space with desktop processors like those made by Intel.
The new Apple Watch Series 9 also features new Apple silicon, in the form of a new chip Apple calls the S9 System in Package, or SiP. The tech giant is calling this its “most powerful watch chip yet.”
The S9 enables new features like a double-tap gesture for answering and ending calls without touching the watch, and on-device Siri, to allow private logging of health data off the cloud.
An electric air taxi by Joby Aviation flies near the Downtown Manhattan Heliport in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., November 12, 2023.
Roselle Chen | Reuters
Air taxi maker Joby Aviation in a new lawsuit accused competitor Archer Aviation of using stolen information by a former employee to “one-up” a partnership deal with a real estate developer.
“This is corporate espionage, planned and premeditated,” Joby said in the lawsuit filed Wednesday in a California Superior Court in Santa Cruz, where the company is based.
Archer and Joby did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The lawsuit alleges that former U.S. state and local policy lead, George Kivork, downloaded dozens of files and sent some content to his personal email two days before he resigned in July to take a job at Archer, which had recruited him.
By August, Joby said a partner that worked with Kivork said it had been approached by Archer with a “more lucrative deal.” Joby alleges that the eVTOL rival’s understanding of “highly confidential” details helped it leverage negotiations.
Joby also said the developer attempted to terminate the agreement, citing a breach of confidentiality.
Kivork refused to return the files when Joby approached him after conducting an investigation, according to the suit. The company also said Archer denied wrongdoing, and would not disclose how it learned about the terms of the agreement or provide results from an internal investigation it allegedly undertook.
The lawsuit comes during a busy period for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) technology as companies race to gain Federal Aviation Administration certification to start flying commercially. ‘
The sector has also benefitted from President Donald Trump‘s newly minted eVTOL pilot program.
Joby argued in the complaint that it’s “imperative” to protect Joby’s work “from this type of espionage” to promote the sector’s success and ensure fair competition.
Last week, Joby said it completed its first test flight for a hybrid aircraft it’s working on with defense contractor L3Harris. This month, Amazon-backed Beta Technologies, another electric flight company, also went public on the New York Stock Exchange.
Joby shares have more than doubled over the last year, while Archer is up about 68%.
In August 2023, Archer settled a previous legal dispute with Boeing-owned Wisk Aero over the alleged theft of trade secrets. As part of the deal, Archer agreed to use Wisk as its autonomous tech partner.
A hearing is scheduled for March 20, 2026.
Joby and Archer year-to-date stock chart.
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