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The TSMC chip is bigger. The obvious is there. However, the not so obvious is WHY is it bigger? The technology to make the smaller chip to match Samsung is there, so why the discrepancy? You can have an Intel and AMD both running the same GHz but do you think all processors are created equal?
Apples and oranges...
 
Yes. You are probably correct. It is probably way faster, but also way hotter and needs some serious juice. Apple is well known for under clocking chips to meet there stringent thermal guidelines.

So this is an attempt to keep the larger chip cooler you think?
 
So this is an attempt to keep the larger chip cooler you think?
Exactly. They might be over throttling at this point. They might patch it with an update but why take the risk? I think anyone with the TSMC chip should keep exchanging until they get they Samsung chip. 14 days is not a long enough time to beta test this problem.
 
Yes. You are probably correct. It is probably way faster, but also way hotter and needs some serious juice. Apple is well known for under clocking chips to meet there stringent thermal guidelines.
Exactly my point. If Apple undervolts the TSMC chip to the match performance level and thermals of the Samsung, then the two will perform the same. How is this bad if there's no perceivable difference then between them- battery life and performance should be the same or very close. It's the same as undervolting a CPU or GPU in a laptop to conserve battery power and lower temperature. I seriously don't understand the mass hysteria over this.
 
Exactly. They might be over throttling at this point. They might patch it with an update but why take the risk? I think anyone with the TSMC chip should keep exchanging until they get they Samsung chip. 14 days is not a long enough time to beta test this problem.

Yeah. It's got to be attempting to keep the bigger chip more energy efficient. This might not be working out too well for some of us.

I think I like testing, I've got a one year manufacturers warranty, and insurance. Instead of trying to swap out phones who knows how many times, maybe I'll just see where this goes. It's not like I can't just get another device when then iPhone 7 hits. Haha.
 
Exactly my point. If Apple undervolts the TSMC chip to the match performance level and thermals of the Samsung, then the two will perform the same. How is this bad if there's no perceivable difference then between them- battery life and performance should be the same or very close. It's the same as undervolting a CPU or GPU in a laptop to conserve battery power.
The problem is, as we are starting to see here, is that under or over vaulting a cpu is the driving factor in CPU errata and we would like to avoid the errors thrown by such a technical side effect.
 
Exactly my point. If Apple undervolts the TSMC chip to the match performance level and thermals of the Samsung, then the two will perform the same. How is this bad if there's no perceivable difference then between them- battery life and performance should be the same or very close. It's the same as undervolting a CPU or GPU in a laptop to conserve battery power and lower temperature. I seriously don't understand the mass hysteria over this.

I'm definitely not hysterical but I'm pretty sure that underclocking or overclocking can cause a processor to have unexpected behavior. I know that during battery saving mode on my laptop, some applications may not function as well or even have slight delays in response time. Which appears to be happening with my iPhone....
 
I'm definitely not hysterical but I'm pretty sure that underclocking or overclocking can cause a processor to have unexpected behavior. I know that during battery saving mode on my laptop, some applications may not function as well or even have slight delays in response time. Which appears to be happening with my iPhone....
Can cause unexpected behavior, yes. The cause behind your freezing problems or odd glitches, seriously doubt it has anything to do with TSMC vs Samsung. As an aside, I have a ton of faith in TSMC, they've been around forever and I've been building PCs for the past decade. Don't mean any disrespect. I just think this is a complete non issue until some concrete proof gets released.
 
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Can cause unexpected behavior, yes. The cause behind your freezing problems or odd glitches, seriously doubt it has anything to do with TSMC vs Samsung. As an aside, I have a ton of faith in TSMC, they've been around forever and I've been building PCs for the past decade. Don't mean any disrespect. I just think this is a complete non issue until some concrete proof gets released.

That guy with his phone freezing up in video was pretty compelling as mine is the same but not as severe.

I'm not saying it's TSMC, I'm saying it's Apple. If they're requiring these chips to be more energy efficient than they were designed for, lots of fun after effects.

At any rate, I'm going to stick with it as I don't want to get myself into return cycles. I've got insurance and a one year warranty for defects. I'm waiting to see if perhaps just one bad batch hit. If it becomes more widespread, that'll be a different story....
 
Can cause unexpected behavior, yes. The cause behind your freezing problems or odd glitches, seriously doubt it has anything to do with TSMC vs Samsung. As an aside, I have a ton of faith in TSMC, they've been around forever and I've been building PCs for the past decade. Don't mean any disrespect. I just think this is a complete non issue until some concrete proof gets released.
There is another thread running that is solely dedicated to freezing and stutters and I would bet you that most of those victims have the TSMC version.
 
There is another thread running that is solely dedicated to freezing and stutters and I would bet you that most of those victims have the TSMC version.

You're probably right, but only because 60% of these chips are TSMC. The majority of users experiencing no issues probably have TSMC chips too.
 
You're probably right, but only because 60% of these chips are TSMC. The majority of users experiencing no issues probably have TSMC chips too.

I'm thinking it's more like just maybe one bad batch. Only a few of us are experiencing this, that I've seen so far.
 
Why Apple didn't just put only Samsung in 6s+ and only TSMC in 6s? Then we would know what we are buying. Sounds fair and equal to me.
 
So I thought I'd add my two cents here. I decided to install the app using the Xcode method. I have a silver 128GB 6S+ with a TSMC chip and my wife has a rose gold 64GB 6S+ with a Samsung chip. I ran several tests using Geekbench 3. The Samsung chip consistently edged out the TSMC chip by 15-30 points on the single core test and 35-50 points on the multi-core test. I closed all apps and rebooted both phones during testing and still achieved the same results. When opening apps simultaneously on both phones (as simultaneous as you can get using two fingers), the one with the TSMC chip loaded the app slightly faster consistently across apps. I did place both phones into airplane mode. Again, my two cents so take it for what it's worth.
 
So I thought I'd add my two cents here. I decided to install the app using the Xcode method. I have a silver 128GB 6S+ with a TSMC chip and my wife has a rose gold 64GB 6S+ with a Samsung chip. I ran several tests using Geekbench 3. The Samsung chip consistently edged out the TSMC chip by 15-30 points on the single core test and 35-50 points on the multi-core test. I closed all apps and rebooted both phones during testing and still achieved the same results. When opening apps simultaneously on both phones (as simultaneous as you can get using two fingers), the one with the TSMC chip loaded the app slightly faster consistently across apps. I did place both phones into airplane mode. Again, my two cents so take it for what it's worth.

Regarding app opening speed, I'm not sure if Apple uses different manufacturers NAND chips in iPhones (probably). In Macs there are different SSD's with quite big speed margins. So maybe not all iPhones are also created equal.
 
I'm definitely not hysterical but I'm pretty sure that underclocking or overclocking can cause a processor to have unexpected behavior. I know that during battery saving mode on my laptop, some applications may not function as well or even have slight delays in response time. Which appears to be happening with my iPhone....

delays from battery saving mode are simply because the processor has been partially shut down, and it takes time to start it back up when the user demands something.

underclocking a CPU usually only gives you problems when there are other clock domains in the chip that have not been underclocked in concert. overclocking can give problems, but if you lower the temperature then overclocking will work OK. but lowering the temperature leads to another kind of failure (min-timing (hold) failure), so you can't go too far with that. anyway that's irrelevant for the iphone as it has only passive cooling.

if apple's engineers designed the underclock/undervolt scheme then it is 100% safe and will not lead to any problems. i just don't know how else to explain it. analyzing the static timing of a digital circuit is a well-understood science at this point. even 2nd order effects like on-chip silicon variation and on-chip metal crosstalk are taken into account when doing the analysis.
 
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Here's another easy way too tell which chip you have. I have an app called System Status (not free) that I use. I went to the Details tab and scrolled down to the Device Information section. There is an entry labeled "type" that's shows either N66AP (Samsung) or N66MAP (TSMC). You can find these values here: https://www.theiphonewiki.com/wiki/Models.
 
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Here's another easy way too tell which chip you have. I have an app called System Status (not free) that I use. I went to the Details tab and scrolled down to the Device Information section. There is an entry labeled "type" that's shows either N66AP (Samsung) or N66MAP (TSMC). You can find these values here: https://www.theiphonewiki.com/wiki/Models.

This app is incredible! Thanks for recommending it.

Interestingly enough, I get N71mAP on mine.

Edit: Figured it out... N66 is 6s+ and N71 is 6s.

TSMC FTW!
 

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How's your battery life?

So far battery life seems pretty good. I was on a trip that required a day's drive. Woke up in the morning, did some browsing and made some calls, then drove across state lines for the rest of the day. GPS was running and Pandora was playing for a good 8 hours through Bluetooth on my car. Still had over 40% battery life at the end of the day (12+ hours). Granted, the screen wasn't on the entire time, but my other phones would drain pretty quickly under GPS strain for that long. The phone wasn't charged at all through the day or plugged into the car.
 
I screwed up, too. I don't know why I didn't set airplane mode before running. I think the need to know if I got a superior Samsung chip was too strong. I lost the panel lottery on my Retina Macbook Pro and got the non-Samsung panel and have been stuck with BS image retention for 3+ years now.
And who exactly said the Samsung chip is superior?
I doubt the average user would notice.
I doubt ANY user could notice
Not really about speed as a die shrink will generally yield more power efficiency. Samsung chip owners will see much better battery life.
Much better ? Based on what L your assumption that 14 is better than 16 ?
What do you know about the two chips ? Thermal behavior? Voltage ?
You know NOTHING . You basically know only the name of the two manufacturer, yet you keep spreading hysteria on the forum trying to convince people to start an insane swapping activity.....
Well it's going to be about 10% more efficient so over an hour of extra battery life for the Samsung chip. Pretty significant if you ask me.
And you decided a 10% gain without knowing a single technical data about the two chips.

Exactly. They might be over throttling at this point. They might patch it with an update but why take the risk? I think anyone with the TSMC chip should keep exchanging until they get they Samsung chip. 14 days is not a long enough time to beta test this problem.
Keep exchanging... Good advice ... People returning perfectly working devices because an enlightened BJonson on a forum said so.
Exactly my point. If Apple undervolts the TSMC chip to the match performance level and thermals of the Samsung, then the two will perform the same. How is this bad if there's no perceivable difference then between them- battery life and performance should be the same or very close. It's the same as undervolting a CPU or GPU in a laptop to conserve battery power and lower temperature. I seriously don't understand the mass hysteria over this.
It's not even undervolting. Every chip has acceptable voltage range.
Btw we don't know anything about TSMC or Samsung A9.
The difference between the twos could be negligible regarding power consumption, so Apple didn't even bother to use different voltages.
The problem is, as we are starting to see here, is that under or over vaulting a cpu is the driving factor in CPU errata and we would like to avoid the errors thrown by such a technical side effect.
And you think Apple engineers to be so amateurish to undervolt a chip to a level that could cause issues?
I'm wondering why they don't hire you....
I'm definitely not hysterical but I'm pretty sure that underclocking or overclocking can cause a processor to have unexpected behavior. I know that during battery saving mode on my laptop, some applications may not function as well or even have slight delays in response time. Which appears to be happening with my iPhone....
We are not speaking about underclocking or overclocking....

Can cause unexpected behavior, yes. The cause behind your freezing problems or odd glitches, seriously doubt it has anything to do with TSMC vs Samsung. As an aside, I have a ton of faith in TSMC, they've been around forever and I've been building PCs for the past decade. Don't mean any disrespect. I just think this is a complete non issue until some concrete proof gets released.
TSMC is in the business since ever....
Only in a forum like this someone could assume Samsung > TSMC
There is another thread running that is solely dedicated to freezing and stutters and I would bet you that most of those victims have the TSMC version.
Sure , and you know why ? Because over 60% of the chips are made by TSMC, by contract.
You're probably right, but only because 60% of these chips are TSMC. The majority of users experiencing no issues probably have TSMC chips too.
This.
But let him keep spreading fud.....
Why Apple didn't just put only Samsung in 6s+ and only TSMC in 6s? Then we would know what we are buying. Sounds fair and equal to me.
Because the chips are identical, and only on forums like this someone could start a discussion over that.
Do you really think an iPhone 5S made in 2013 has the same identical internal components of an iPhone 5S made in 2015 ?
Manufacturer are continuously making revisions to their products, and OEM like Apple keep changing supplier of internal components. There are probably different batches of the same period using different components. All within specs defined by Apple.
 
Not sure why everyone even bother to talk about Samsung's 14nm chips like some holy grail. Samsung's 14nm is a stolen technology from TSMC that they couldn't even get it done properly without reusing the 20nm process.

TSMC chips is much better in every way.
 
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