Apple recently recruited TSMC for 16-nanometer FinFET turbo design. This was due to three reasons: poor yield performance of GlobalFoundries, Apple's concern over Samsung chip production, and exceeding expectations of TSMC chip yield rate and performance. TSMC's chip is said to potentially offer 135% and 161% performance. Further, this chip could get paired with a 2 GB of RAM that allows Safari tabs open without a need to refresh.
KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reportedly gave a note to investors on Wednesday that Apple allegedly made a "last-minute decision to recruit TSMC." This was due to GlobalFoundries' continuing poor yield performance on their next-generation CPU production. It was mentioned that GlobalFoundries' A9 chip yield rate is currently around 30%, which is well below what Kuo said of a 50% mass-production "basic requirement." Kuo sees Apple's recruitment of TSMC as a means to reduce "supply uncertainties."
There were also concerns coming from Apple that Samsung's chip production might not "be able to supply enough of its 14-nanometer design." This is because Samsung's initial sale of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge have been greater than expected, which may lead Samsung to pull away orders from Apple. But more than that, it is said that "TSMC's competing 16-nanometer FinFET turbo design has exceeded Apple's expectations in both yield rate and performance."
Currently, the iPhone 6 is powered by the A8 chip. When asking how different the A9 is going to be, Investor Wired said that it "should offer between 135% and 161% more performance than comparable Series 6XT processor at the same clock speed." Further, the publication said that if Apple would port "the 'Enhanced Cyclone' cores over to a 14/16-nanometer process, then a clock speed is likely to enhance at 1.8GHz. This will give Apple a lead once more in PC market."
Recent reports also said that the iPhone 7 and iPhone 6S might add a 2 GB of RAM, and pre-installed Apple SIM, which will give users to select a carrier on their own. When an additional RAM is included, this would "allow the iOS to leave background tasks and tabs in Safari open for longer without a need to reload or refresh." However, it could also mean additional battery consumption. Nevertheless, this might be addressed as Apple was seen offering battery-related jobs.
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