Apple does not reveal all details about their products, so it is necessary to take in hands of independent experts. In addition to evaluating the maintainability of iFixit publication inside the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus looked specialists Chipworks, studied the new processor Apple A9. A little later, the crystal will find its use in a 12.9-inch tablet iPad Pro.
For many months the media reported controversy over who will produce Apple’s A9 processors. In the end we agreed that TSMC will get 40% of orders for new SoC for the iPhone. The rest went to Samsung. Explain that cooperation with the South Korean manufacturer GoldenFoundries and use of more advanced 14-nm process.
Findings of Chipworks confirm that the iPhone 6s actually used two different versions OS, which differ according to the area of the chip. “As you can see in the image, the A9 processor is available in two sizes – APL0898 (Samsung) and APL1022 (TSMC). From the point of view of the benchmarks, a more compact version of Samsung production is more productive”, – experts say. In Chipworks suggested that Apple faced a shortage of supplies of CPUs, so was forced to turn to two suppliers.
According to available information, the yield of good products from TSMC higher than Samsung. The first produces solutions for 16-nm technology, while the second is more “subtle” 14-nm. As for the platform Apple A9X, which will be used in the next generation iPad, its production will be entrusted to TSMC exclusively.
14-nm technology Samsung largely satisfied with Apple in terms of efficiency and costs than TSMC promoted a bunch of “16 nm + FinFET”. However, due to limited supplies, the American computer electronics giant appealed to the Taiwan chipmaker.
Note that the A8 chip for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus is made exclusively at the Taiwanese company TSMC 20 nm process technology, whereas the previous A7 chip on 28 nm process technology produced by Samsung. In TSMC sure to offer a more advanced 14-nm solution allowed the Koreans to steal their technological secrets.
