One of the biggest upgrades coming to the iPhone 15 and Macs this year is the new 3nm A-series and M-series chips. The new chips will bring major performance and efficiency gains to the iPhone 15 and upcoming MacBook models. The chips will be manufactured by TSMC, and the supplier goes a long way back, with Apple being its major client. It is now being reported that TSMC will not be charging Apple for 3nm A17 Bionic chips for the iPhone 15 Pro that are defective.

TSMC's special deal with Apple will put it ahead of the competition with the launch of 3nm A17 Bionic chips for the iPhone

In the manufacturing process, there needs to be a certain level of trial and testing before the chips can be mass-produced for a certain device. However, TSMC used to charge Apple for the perfect as well as the defective chips previously. This year, TSMC has favored Apple in terms of costs as it will not be charging the company for defective chips, according to a report from The Information.

Apple's upcoming iPhone 15 Pro models will house an all-new A17 Bionic chip fabricated on TSMC's 3nm process. The chips will deliver major gains in computational and graphical performance on the iPhone, allowing the device to load apps faster, improve gaming experience, and more. Additionally, the A17 Bionic chip will also be more power efficient, and with the low power-hungry nature of the chip, the iPhone 15 Pro will be able to deliver improved battery life, especially on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which will feature a bigger battery.

The 17 Bionic chip will only be available on the 'Pro' models of the iPhone 15 as the company segregated the two models to create a wider gap in terms of performance. The change was implemented last year and it is probably one of the reasons why demand for the iPhone 14 remained low. It is not clear at this stage if TSMC will use the same approach for Apple's forthcoming M3 chips for MacBooks.

TSMC charged companies for the wafers and the dies it houses, which includes the perfect ones and the defective ones. Since Apple brings a lot of business to TSMC, the supplier could have kept an easy hand. It is also not clear if it will continue to do or if the special agreement was only for this time around. The report mentions that the 3nm chip fabrication features a yield rate of 70 to 80 percent. What this means is that 1 out of 5 chips being manufactured by the supplier are defective and Apple will not be paying for it.

Ultimately, the supplier will allow the Cupertino giant to stay ahead of the competition when it comes to 3nm chips. Profitability aside, the A17 Bionic chip will potentially blow the competition out of the market. The 3nm chips are only expected to arrive on the iPhone 15 Pro models while the standard models will stick to the A16 Bionic.