In a recent teardown of Apple's new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, it was found that the devices use two kinds of processors by TSMC and Samsung. Rumors emerge that TSMC will become Apple's future chipset manufacturer instead of Samsung.
Chipworks, a data analysis firm, conducted the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus teardown and discovered that two different A9 processor brains are being housed inside the devices. The company's senior technology officer Andy Wei was surprised to find "two different application processors in two otherwise identical phones", reported The Register. The report further stated that the kind of processor used varies depending on the type of device.
Both Samsung and TSMC A9 chipsets are made of similar hardware components yet have different sizes. Samsung's chip had a smaller size at 96-square-millimeter compared to TSMC's which measured 104.5-square-millimeter. Samsung's SoC reportedly used a 14nm process while TSMC used a 16nm process.
According to MacRumors, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus have more TSMC chipsets than Samsung SoCs. This conclusion was based on data gathered by an app created by Hikaru Wang. This app can determine what type of processor a device has once it has been installed in the phone.
The report revealed that 58.96 percent of total devices contained TSMC brains, while Samsung chips were present only in 41.04 percent. The iPhone 6s had TSMC A9 processors on 78.27 percent of all units while the iPhone 6s Plus models had slightly more Samsung chips (around 56.81 percent). It has been reported that the difference in size of the Samsung and TSMC processors will not have significant effect on the phones' performance.
Seeking Alpha reported that TSMC might become Apple's next manufacturer of future chipsets and possibly the next leader in chipset fabrication. The company has been on a roll in revamping its processor production, making chipsets that rival Samsung's in terms of performance.
Another rumor suggests that Apple and TSMC could be working together to create the next-gen A10 chipset using a 10nm FinFET process. TSMC claimed that it is currently underway to begin 10nm process qualification before 2015 ends and will start production by 2016.
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