Apple silicon

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<div style="font: bold 2em/1.2 -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'SF Pro Display', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: var(--wiki-color);">Apple silicon</div>
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! class="ios-lab" | Designer
| class="ios-val" | [[Apple]]
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! class="ios-lab" | Introduced
| class="ios-val" | 2010 ([[Apple A4]])
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! class="ios-lab" | Architecture
| class="ios-val" | ARM (custom cores since [[Apple A6]])
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! class="ios-lab" | Fabrication
| class="ios-val" | TSMC (previously Samsung)
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! class="ios-lab" | Families
| class="ios-val" | A (iPhone/iPad) · M (Mac/iPad Pro)<br>S (Watch) · C (modems) · N (networking)<br>U/W/H/T/R (specialty)
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! class="ios-lab" | Current flagships
| class="ios-val" | [[Apple A19]] Pro · [[Apple M5|M5]] · [[Apple C1X|C1X]]
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{{Apple silicon Navbox}}

'''Apple silicon''' is [[Apple]]'s family of self-designed processors — the system-on-chip line that powers every current Apple product, from the [[iPhone]]'s A series and the [[Mac]]'s M series to the Apple Watch's S series and, most recently, the company's own cellular modems and networking chips. It is the deepest expression of Apple's vertical integration: hardware, silicon, and operating systems co-designed, with features like Face ID, Apple Pay's Secure Enclave, computational photography, and [[Apple Intelligence]] built jointly across chip and OS.

The program began with the 2008 acquisition of P.A. Semi and debuted as the [[Apple A4]] in 2010's iPad and [[iPhone 4]]. Its milestones repeatedly caught the industry flat: the first custom ARM core ([[Apple A6]], 2012), the first 64-bit phone chip ([[Apple A7]], 2013 — a year ahead of rivals' roadmaps), the first Neural Engine ([[Apple A11]], 2017), the first 7-, 5-, 4-, and 3-nanometer phone chips ([[Apple A12]]/[[Apple A14|A14]]/[[Apple A16|A16]]/[[Apple A17]]), the Mac's architecture transition (M1, 2020), and modem independence ([[Apple C1]], 2025).

= Families =

The '''A series''' ([[Apple A4|A4]]–[[Apple A19|A19]]) powers iPhones and most iPads, adding a GPU and Neural Engine of Apple's own design from the [[Apple A11]] onward. The '''M series''' ([[Apple M1|M1]]–[[Apple M5|M5]]) scaled the A-series architecture to Macs, iPad Pros, and the Vision Pro, ending twenty years of Intel Macs with performance-per-watt the industry spent years answering. The '''S series''' ([[Apple S1|S1]]–[[Apple S10|S10]]) system-in-package runs the Apple Watch; the '''C series''' ([[Apple C1|C1]], [[Apple C1X|C1X]]) is Apple's cellular modem line, debuted in the [[iPhone 16e]]; the '''N series''' ([[Apple N1|N1]]) handles Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/Thread; and [[Apple U1|U]] (ultra-wideband), [[Apple W1|W]]/[[Apple H1|H]] (audio), [[Apple T2|T]] (security), and [[Apple R1|R]] (sensor fusion) chips fill specialty roles.

= Design approach =

Apple designs cores, GPUs, Neural Engines, image processors, and security blocks in-house against ARM's instruction set, buys leading-edge fabrication (almost exclusively TSMC since the [[Apple A9|A9]] era's dual-sourcing "chipgate"), and tunes each chip to one year's products rather than a merchant roadmap. The payoff pattern — industry-leading single-core performance, efficiency that defines battery life, and hardware hooks the OS exploits immediately — has held from the [[iPhone 4]] to the vapor-chamber [[Apple A19]] Pro in the current [[iPhone 17 Pro]].

= See also =

* [[Apple]] · [[iPhone]] · [[Mac]]