In April 2020 we reported on TSMC's CEO confirming that 3nm processors were on target for mass production in H2 2022. TSMC then reported in December 2020 that the chip to follow the 2022 3nm will be the enhanced "3nm Plus." The 3nm Plus, according to a new Digitimes report, will be dubbed N3E – "E" for enhanced – though not confirmed.

It is fully expected that Apple will be one of the first to adopt both the 2022 and 2023 versions of the 3nm processor for iPhones.

The N3 will offer up to 15% speed gain or consume up to 30% less power than N5, and provide up to 70% logic density gain.

In June, TSMC's CEO CC Wei was quoted as stating, "We observe chiplets are becoming an industry trend. We are working with several customers on 3DFabric to enable chiplet architecture."

While some have argued that 3DFabric isn't for smartphones, TSMC's own literature confirms that  "mobile computing on advanced smartphones" is in fact one of the markets that 3D Fabric will apply.

3DFabric™ offers our customers the freedom and advantage to design their products more holistically as a system of mini-chips that offers key advantages versus designing a larger monolithic die. You could learn more here.

Whether Apple chooses to include 3DFabric in future iPhones is unknown at this time. However, with TSMC aiming for advanced smartphones to adopt their technology, it's to their advantage to get Apple onboard out of the gate to help drive this new avenue of technology for TSMC.