Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple to Stick with Samsung for A6 Chip Production After All?

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,537
30,844



a5_ipad_2-150x174.jpg


Last month, word surfaced that Apple had signed on with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for production of the next-generation A6 and A7 chips destined for future iOS devices. Samsung has been Apple's manufacturing partner for the A4 and A5 chips, but several reports have been claiming that Apple has been trying to shift to TSMC in part because of strained relations between Apple and Samsung over intellectual property issues.

The Korea Times now reports that Apple will indeed primarily be sticking with Samsung for A6 production.
"Apple has been in talks with Samsung over shipment of its A6 quad-core mobile processor (AP) chips to be used in the next iPhone. It appears that Apple clearly has concluded that Samsung remains a critical business partner," an executive from an Apple parts supplier based in Korea said on condition of anonymity.

He said that Samsung has been increasing the output of the Apple-designed A6 chips in its manufacturing plant in Austin, Texas.
Click to expand...
The apparent shift back to Samsung for the A6 is said to be tied to TSMC having issues with its production process, with Apple understandably requiring a stable component supplier as it looks toward its next-generation iOS devices.
"The manufacturing process at TSMC hasn't been stabilized. Considering Apple's previous patterns of adopting qualified technologies, Apple isn't taking risks. Samsung offers better pricing and capacity commitment for the A6 mobile APs," said an official from a different Apple supplier.
Click to expand...
The report also touches on the next-generation iPhone even as the iPhone 4S is only just hitting the market, reviving claims of a larger-screened "iPhone 5" design with a 4-inch display carrying the same resolution as the current iPhone.

Article Link: Apple to Stick with Samsung for A6 Chip Production After All?
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/10/17/apple-to-stick-with-samsung-for-a6-chip-production-after-all/
Warbrain

Warbrain

macrumors 603
Jun 28, 2004
5,702
293
Chicago, IL
This isn't surprising. Apple was probably looking for a little bit more freedom but the way Samsung is built and operated the lawsuits with the mobile side don't really affect the chip side.
 
4419672

4419672

Cancelled
Dec 18, 2008
28
56
When will people let the "bigger screen" rumor die? There's a reason why it is the size it is and it shouldn't change—this is why. It's not a tablet and bigger isn't always better.
 
*LTD*

*LTD*

macrumors G4
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
Canada
Suppliers are suppliers.

And Apple will continue the lawsuits against Samsung on the mobile front, and Samsung will just roll over and continue to serve Apple's needs.
 
Last edited:
T

TallGuy1970

macrumors 6502
Jun 16, 2010
323
0
I'm just projecting into the future....

An A6 quad-core processor, LTE, and a 4-inch screen on the next iPhone? There's going to have to be some major battery upgrades on that phone! :D
 
M

Michael73

macrumors 65816
Feb 27, 2007
1,082
41
Blows my mind...a quad core chip in a phone!

Make me wonder how Apple and all the developers out there will harness that kind of craziness?!? :D
 
lehite

lehite

macrumors newbie
Sep 6, 2010
28
0
seanwes said:
When will people let the "bigger screen" rumor die? There's a reason why it is the size it is and it shouldn't change—this is why. It's not a tablet and bigger isn't always better.
Click to expand...

That guy must have rather small hands. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
 
Last edited:
guzhogi

guzhogi

macrumors 68040
Aug 31, 2003
3,740
1,831
Wherever my feet take me…
MacRumors said:
The report also touches on the next-generation iPhone even as the iPhone 4S is only just hitting the market, reviving claims of a larger-screened "iPhone 5" design with a 4-inch display carrying the same resolution as the current iPhone.
Click to expand...

Start the haters complaining about having the same resolution on a bigger screen.

But then again, if Apple increased the resolution too, they'll complain about how developers would have to update their graphics.

What can I say? Haters gonna hate.


TallGuy1970 said:
An A6 quad-core processor, LTE, and a 4-inch screen on the next iPhone? There's going to have to be some major battery upgrades on that phone! :D
Click to expand...

If the bigger screen requires a longer and/or wider case, Apple could put in a larger battery. I wonder which component drains the battery the fastest.
 
ouimetnick

ouimetnick

macrumors 68040
Aug 28, 2008
3,552
6,341
Beverly, Massachusetts
Samsung is a big corporation. I'm sure their semiconductor business will be fine with Apple, and they will be happy... Obviously not the mobile copycat division of Sammy.
 
CJM

CJM

macrumors 68000
May 7, 2005
1,535
1,054
U.K.
seanwes said:
When will people let the "bigger screen" rumor die? There's a reason why it is the size it is and it shouldn't change—this is why. It's not a tablet and bigger isn't always better.
Click to expand...

Really? That's your evidence? One man's anecdote. People have different sized hands, y'know.

kasei said:
I totally agree. People will not let this rumor nor the iPhone 5 die.
Click to expand...

As opposed to what? No more iPhones? "They'll languish with the iPhone 4s forever! MUAAHAHHA!"
 
D

DESNOS

macrumors 6502
Aug 24, 2011
374
1
Any possibility that Samsung, who pretty much owns south Korea, could have seeded this story to the press? I find the source rather suspect.
 
Piggie

Piggie

macrumors G3
Feb 23, 2010
9,117
4,016
seanwes said:
When will people let the "bigger screen" rumor die? There's a reason why it is the size it is and it shouldn't change—this is why. It's not a tablet and bigger isn't always better.
Click to expand...

So let's just clarify this can we please?

You are publicly announcing you will not buy any future Apple phones if they increase the size of the current screen as you disagree with it being any bigger?

Just to clear this up.
 
swarmster

swarmster

macrumors 6502a
Jun 1, 2004
641
114
I was looking forward to seeing how the Apple/TSMC thing was going to work out (and I imagine they'll keep trying for the A7 or even late-cycle A6), but if this means I get an A6 in my iPad 3 in April instead of an A5 in my iPad 3 in July, I'll take it. :p
 
J

Johnner1999

macrumors member
Oct 2, 2003
62
0
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/9A334)

The iPhone 5 will be free as a bundle with the PowerBook G5 ;-)
 
chrmjenkins

chrmjenkins

macrumors 603
Oct 29, 2007
5,325
158
MD
I'm still not sure that A6 will be quad core given the low likelihood the increased IPC will help many mobile applications.

Still, if they are going with Samsung, I doubt they had ever fully committed to TSMC. It's not as simple as switching suppliers when you're trying to build a customer processor specific to a company's process. Samsung's 28nm process is not TSMC's process.

However, given TSMC's 28nm node problems, it makes a lot of sense for Apple to avoid that for two reasons: the first is their own steady supply of A6 chips, and the second is their component suppliers' parts. If apple is foaming at the mouth to get those 28nm LTE all-in-one radios from Qualcomm next year, their own A6 stealing production capacity from Qualcomm at TSMC is not something they want to do.

Samsung has definitely demonstrated better fab competency as of late. Their just announced Exynos 4212 (32nm) is a beast and saves quite a bit of power compared to the 4210.
 
ThunderSkunk

ThunderSkunk

macrumors 68040
Dec 31, 2007
3,823
4,051
Milwaukee Area
wtf sometimes on this board. If your world is changed by the difference of a 3.8" screen to a 4" screen on your telephone... you must live in a very very small world.
 
A

axual

macrumors regular
Oct 31, 2007
214
4
Apple should ...

Apple should spend a billion dollars (of it's $70+ billion of cash on hand) and build its own chip plant here in the US, and be done with all of this back and forth.
 
jamesryanbell

jamesryanbell

macrumors 68020
Mar 17, 2009
2,171
93
"I want everybody to focus on how awesome the 4S is right now. We'll get to the 5 next year. It's more fun for everybody to be talking about something I already have, and that's considered the best as of now." - Most Fanboys.

lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom