Samsung and GlobalFoundries to Produce Apple's 14-nm A9 Chips in 2015

Are there many current iOS apps - other than games - that really tap all of the existing speed of the A7, never mind the aggressive schedule for the A8 and A9?

I know Apple's schedule is dictated to some degree by competition from the other phone & tablet platforms; but it seems to me Apple is either going to have to push games harder, or come up with some new 'killer power app' to drive A8/A9 device sales.

I love my Air, but I didn't need to buy it - my iPad2 was still perfectly usable and played games like Galaxy on Fire 2 really well.

iPhone 6S waitWagon, all aboard!

TC400 said:

If you really hate Samsung that much you might as well not use any electronic devices chances are it has a samsung component inside of it.

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...and the Samsung atoms in all Samsung components consist of deadly Samsung electrons and protons! Be careful!

pika2000 said:

This actually worries me. I mean one can say that Samsung is an expert in this business, and if they cannot even get enough yield and/or even drop out (thus sacrificing a huge amount of money on the contract), then maybe there's something wrong with the A8? Doesn't sound too comforting. Maybe I should wait for the A9 powered devices instead.

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It's TSMC who have dropped out because of low yields, not Samsung, and all that means is that TSMC haven't got their 14-nm process sorted out yet, which isn't a problem that's specific to any particular chip, it will affect everything they try to make at 14-nm scale.

Cuban Missles said:

I am a bit confused by this as well. All the rumors amount to squat. Samsung seems to rule when it comes to chips. I don't understand why they seem to be the only ones capable of doing this. What happened to tsmc? Why can't Apple bring that in house like they are doing with sapphire?

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Apple didn't really bring sapphire in-house, per se. That is, they don't do it themselves. They invested in a factory for it, like they've done with other parts suppliers. They bought a large building and leased it to GTAT, who owns and operates all the furnaces (which Apple loaned them money to build). However, apparently GTAT doesn't want to be owned by Apple.

Apple did try to do a similar kind of thing with TSMC, but the latter refused:

Apple asked to invest in TSMC, or to have TSMC set aside factory space dedicated to Apple chips, the executives say. TSMC Chairman Morris Chang rejected both requests because the company wanted to maintain its independence and manufacturing flexibility, the executives say.

- WSJ

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Cuban Missles said:

What secret does Samsung have that keeps them winning every single contract? It just seems weird especially given all the legal battles. And that is why it confuses me to read all this.

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As others have noted, Samsung's "secrets" are quality, quantity, price.

It's only confusing because so many articles had been predicting that Apple would be leaving Samsung by 2014. Didn't happen. And the legal battles are about phones, not chips.

Conundrum

Is it just me, or do you also think Apple is risking a lot by having Sam-dung fab their chips? I mean, they have all the Apple technology right in front of them! They don't have to steal it; Apple's giving it to them!

E

whooleytoo said:

Are there many current iOS apps - other than games - that really tap all of the existing speed of the A7, never mind the aggressive schedule for the A8 and A9?

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The camera app.
The fingerprint scanner.
Apps like iMovie and djay 2 (an amazing app) benefit a lot from the processing power.

whooleytoo said:

Are there many current iOS apps - other than games - that really tap all of the existing speed of the A7, never mind the aggressive schedule for the A8 and A9?

I know Apple's schedule is dictated to some degree by competition from the other phone & tablet platforms; but it seems to me Apple is either going to have to push games harder, or come up with some new 'killer power app' to drive A8/A9 device sales.

I love my Air, but I didn't need to buy it - my iPad2 was still perfectly usable and played games like Galaxy on Fire 2 really well.

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Yes the A7 chip is capable of doing computational photography which requires 64 bit. Touch ID works exceptionally well because of the 64-bit A7 chip.

They have them designed already??

The love affair continues.

iPhone7ate9 said:

I'm getting an iPhone 6 this year and just glad the processor WON'T be made by samsung! They are low quality rubbish.

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You need to rethink this statement

Cuban Missles said:

I am a bit confused by this as well. All the rumors amount to squat. Samsung seems to rule when it comes to chips. I don't understand why they seem to be the only ones capable of doing this. What happened to tsmc? Why can't Apple bring that in house like they are doing with sapphire? What secret does Samsung have that keeps them winning every single contract? It just seems weird especially given all the legal battles. And that is why it confuses me to read all this.

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It's difficult to get a new semiconductor process up. Being the first to bring up a new process is a skill that Samsung is particularly adept at (and Intel was in the past, although I don't know where they stand now vs. Samsung). Basically Samsung is the best at being first to market with any new process, so they will always win the initial orders for any new Apple proprietary processors that require a higher density. Other companies will become second sources who will supply some of the volume during the life of the product.

iPhone7ate9 said:

Don't know but I just know that samsung makes poor quality products.

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I have a samsung phone...........
I don't have a macbook....

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I actually won't be buying any mac computer. I will try to avoid samsung products at all costs!

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So you're basically a hypocrite then? Firstly you state you have a Samsung phone, then state you avoid Samsung products at all cost. And are you not buying a Mac because it may have a Samsung component in it?

DeeGee48 said:

Is it just me, or do you also think Apple is risking a lot by having Sam-dung fab their chips? I mean, they have all the Apple technology right in front of them! They don't have to steal it; Apple's giving it to them!

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Don't worry Apple is smart enough which to give to Samsung... Like on A7 chip.
Samsung was simply blindsided by the 64-bit A7... if Samsung created the A7 chip then they should had not shock by 64-bit A7...

Read..
Who's fabricating Apple's A7?

Samsung in Pain as Apple's orders for Processors Drop

As for now Samesung is still need to help... but i think Apple is smart enough now..

maflynn said:

So are all the prior iPads, and iPhones rubbish because Samsung is rubbish, they also make a lot of memory that goes into Macs, people also clamor for the displays that Samsung make.

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I will be returning my iPhone 6 if I find out it uses a Samsung-made display, CPU, or RAM. Everything they make is low quality garbage.

I can perhaps overlook other minor parts (a sort of a don't ask, don't tell) but these critical components should not be made by Samsung.

I'll apologise in advance since I'm asking a question that's both on topic and isn't just mindlessly bashing Samsung. Sorry.

Does the name LPE (low power early) imply that devices with this chip will have substantially better power consumption or is it just an incremental improvement or is it nothing to do with power consumption.

Reason077 said:

I will be returning my iPhone 6 if I find out it uses a Samsung-made display, CPU, or RAM. Everything they make is low quality garbage.

I can perhaps overlook other minor parts (a sort of a don't ask, don't tell) but these critical components should not be made by Samsung.

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But we already know that they will be, at least on some phones, unfortunately.

i used to live by this place in malta

lol, returning a phone because it has Samsung parts is one of the most absurd things I've seen, and then on top of it to call their components garbage?

yikes, man

DeeGee48 said:

Is it just me, or do you also think Apple is risking a lot by having Sam-dung fab their chips? I mean, they have all the Apple technology right in front of them! They don't have to steal it; Apple's giving it to them!

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I think it's really about choice. Does Apple want good yield of next-gen chips working and at a great price? If so, Samsung is THE choice. Does Apple want less dependable yields of next-gen chips? If so, gamble on other companies that may or may not be able to deliver.

We allowed the legal stuff to make us so anti-Samsung that we believe Apple should just not do business with them. However, if Apple chose to completely cease doing business with them today, probably everything that Apple makes would cease to be available soon. I doubt you could open any piece of Apple tech and not find something made by Samsung inside it.

Samsung is great at building the parts that make Apple's stuff wow us. Even with all the "die Samsung die" hate, go into threads about yellow screens or SSD gripes and you'll find some of the Apple faithful in "hope I get the Samsung one" mode. Why? Because "we" know those are the good ones.

Samsung knows how to do it well, on big scales, at great prices. In many ways, they are the perfect partner for an Apple who covets quality, on big scales at margin-supporting costs. "We" hate them because Apple sued them. However, at the very same time, other parts of Apple are doing deals with Samsung to make the next-gen stuff "we" want to buy.

Get over it. If Samsung is terribly hurting Apple, Apple would not choose to do business with them. Apple has chosen to do business with them, which means Apple wants or maybe needs Samsung to deliver what Apple needs to deliver. While that very well could be a "deal with the devil", it's a deal that Apple is choosing to make. Either Apple has no short-term choice or even Apple knows that their own bread is best buttered by working with Samsung.

DeeGee48 said:

Is it just me, or do you also think Apple is risking a lot by having Sam-dung fab their chips? I mean, they have all the Apple technology right in front of them! They don't have to steal it; Apple's giving it to them!

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It's just you, Apple and Samsung work very closely together to make these components, and Samsung prefers a different tech in it's own device displays, pentile or something. And they make their own 8 core CPU's, otherwise they use Snapdragon CPU's I think.
So no, Samsung have not 'stolen' from Apple's chips at all, because they probably don't need to, want to, or can do, Android isn't designed for 1.3ghz dual core cpu's now a day's. Plus their will be strict agreements in the contracts used to stop any stealing, but I would imagine any techniques or developments in the fab process is owned by Samsung and they can do what they want with that.

Reason077 said:

I will be returning my iPhone 6 if I find out it uses a Samsung-made display, CPU, or RAM. Everything they make is low quality garbage.

I can perhaps overlook other minor parts (a sort of a don't ask, don't tell) but these critical components should not be made by Samsung.

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Forbius said:

But we already know that they will be, at least on some phones, unfortunately.

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What utterly stupid ideology this is, it is unfortunate Apple use top class, best in the world, quality components in it's devices because of the name stamped on them!

And I HIGHLY suggest you NEVER buy ANY Apple product let alone return an iPhone 6, because you can pretty much guarantee it WILL have samsung components in it. It's a very shallow and naive, arrogant thought trail to follow when you refuse to buy anything with a Samsung screen or component in it.

Reason077 said:

I will be returning my iPhone 6 if I find out it uses a Samsung-made display, CPU, or RAM. Everything they make is low quality garbage.

I can perhaps overlook other minor parts (a sort of a don't ask, don't tell) but these critical components should not be made by Samsung.

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Ignorance at its finest.

Reason077 said:

I will be returning my iPhone 6 if I find out it uses a Samsung-made display, CPU, or RAM. Everything they make is low quality garbage..

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Well then, don't even bother buying a 6. It almost certainly will have Samsung tech inside it. I doubt you can find any computing tech branded by Apple that does not have some Samsung guts inside.

Switch to Windows? I doubt you can find any computing tech NOT branded by Apple that does not have some Samsung guts inside.

apolloa said:

What utterly stupid ideology this is, it is unfortunate Apple use top class, best in the world, quality components in it's devices because of the name stamped on them!

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It's not an ideology. It's called having principles. Apple is reducing their dependance on Samsung precisely because of the name. Are you implying Apple has a stupid ideology?

apolloa said:

It's a very shallow and naive thought trail to follow when you refuse to buy anything with a Samsung screen or component in it.

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If you want to give Samsung your money so much, why not simply buy their phones?
I don't like that company and I want to give them as little money as I can.

Apple doesn't use exclusively TSMC because they don't have the yields, not because they make lower quality products. Quality has nothing to do with it.

My point stays, the sooner they stop using Samsung chips, the better.