11/04/2014 06:44:00 PM
dannzfay
Apple has yet to pick the manufacturer for its upcoming A9 chips that will power the next generation of iPhones and iPads in 2015. While TSMC seems like the logical choice (being the key supplier for A8 SoCs today), Samsung is said to be seducing Apple with lower prices.
The duo’s fierce battle for A-series chip orders began earlier this year (at least that's what we've heard), when TSMC officially snapped up all of the orders for the A8 powering the newest iPhones and iPads.
TSMC wants it all, but Samsung won’t go down without a fight
According to a report from Taiwan, Samsung Electronics and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company are still duking it out to obtain manufacturing rights to the A9 specification for the next generation of iDevices in 2015. The report in question, published by DigiTimes, states that Apple is “expected” to confirm who won the orders. We wouldn’t hold our breath for that. Sources familiar with the situation tell the trade publication that “Samsung has offered lower quotes to attract Apple's A9 SoC orders,” adding, “The Korea-based firm is also able to provide Apple the manufacture of other chips such as flash memory and backend services in-house.” One of Apple’s oldest partners in crime, Samsung has manufactured most of the A-series chips for iPhones and iPads, starting with the A4 in the iPhone 4 and ending with the A6X (or possibly even some of the A7 SoCs) in recent years. Now it wants back in the game.
The sources cited in the report say that “TSMC is making the majority of the A8 chips for Apple's latest iPhones,” which has already been confirmed, and that the SoC (system on a chip) is based on a 20nm process technology, which is also correct. However, “the upcoming A9 chip is expected to be fabricated using 1X FinFET processes,” these people note.
iPhone 7 or iPhone 6S
The A9 chips will enter trial production on a 16nm process sometime in the near future, while mass production will only commence in the third quarter of next year, according to the sources. If history is any indication, Apple will not jump ahead to iPhone 7 without first going through an incremental update of the current lineup. This means the A9 could serve as the basis not for the iPhone 7, but for the iPhone 6S or whatever nomenclature they choose next year. However, it’s not out of the question to see these incremental updates scrubbed altogether at one point.
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| Fake A9 chip Image credits to iclarified.com |
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