iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Use 20-Nanometer A8 Processor From TSMC

[MacRumors]

Apple's 20-nanometer A8 processor in the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus was fabricated by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), according to Chipworks (via iFixit). Chipworks has been analyzing the various parts in the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 plus following its release today.

While the iPhone 5s used a 28-nanometer processor, the iPhone 6 and the 6 Plus have a 20-nanometer processor, as has been widely rumored. According to TSMC, its 20-nanometer process technology can result in speeds that are much higher than its 28-nanometer chips. The 20-nanometer process also results in a physically smaller chip that draws less power.

Ahead of the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, there were multiple back and forth rumors that made it unclear whether Samsung or TSMC was manufacturing the chips destined for the new iPhones. Previous generation chips, such as the A7 in the iPhone 5s, were manufactured by Samsung, but Apple reportedly entered into a partnership with TSMC in an effort to reduce its reliance on rival Samsung. The shift is also part of a larger effort by Apple to diversify its supply chain, which cuts down on potential manufacturing issues.

Though TSMC created the 20-nanometer chips for the iPhone 6 and the 6 Plus, rumors have suggested that Apple hasn't ended its relationship with Samsung entirely. The company is rumored to be producing the 14-nanometer chips that will be used in future iOS devices next year, indicating that Apple has plans to continue having both TSMC and Samsung create chips for its devices.

According to Apple, the A8 chip in the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus offers a 25 percent faster CPU and 50 percent better graphics performance compared to the A7 in the iPhone 5s.

Article Link: iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Use 20-Nanometer A8 Processor From TSMC

 

[Rizzm]

Looking forward to seeing if the efficiency shows in battery life.

 

[mozumder]

Apple really could, and probably should, buy out TSMC at this point, if they want to do the whole vertical integration thing..

 

[Sonmi451]

I don't care about the technical details only that I have no lag and the phone runs smooth and does what I want.

 

[Populism]

Steve wouldn't have let Apple use anything larger than 19 nanometers.

 

[Traverse]

Actually concerns me. Despite the hate on these forums, Samsung is really good at what they do. Hopefully no logic board failures down the road.

 

[Piggie]

I want to know if the CPU/GPU is clocked higher in the 6+ model.

Given the extra pixels, one would logically think Apple will have clocked it higher, so that in tests, both device perform the same, despite the 6+ needing to do more work.

This would also explain the need for a larger battery as clocked higher parts would use more power.

I have not seen any speed comparison tests yet.

Someone MUST have done them already to compare both devices?

 

[0928001]

At long last!

Actually concerns me. Despite the hate on these forums, Samsung is really good at what they do. Hopefully no logic board failures down the road.

TSMC is a completely validated semiconductor factory. They've produced chips for NVidia, AMD, Sony (PS4), Microsoft (XBox One), among many other companies. There is nothing to be "concerned" about. Especially when your phone comes with a warranty.

 

[realeric]

Great news. Apple should move away from Samsung to keep the secret of new devices. There is no ‘Chinese Wall’ in Samsung.

 

[TallManNY]

Will there really only be one generation at the 20-N size? Are they really going to get down to 14-N next year?
I have no idea about this stuff, but it certainly seems impressive.

 

[Traverse]

At long last!



TSMC is a completely validated semiconductor factory. They've produced chips for NVidia, AMD, Sony (PS4), Microsoft (XBox One), among many other companies. There is nothing to be "concerned" about. Especially when your phone comes with a warranty.

That's good to know, I wasn't aware of that. They should really add that to the article.

 

[usarioclave]

Great news. Apple should move away from Samsung to keep the secret of new devices. There is no ‘Chinese Wall’ in Samsung.

And they've said as much. In fact, this is what Samsung's head of IP said during the nokia licenses negotiation. We all know what Samsung's IP history is.

Quote from FOSSpatents.com:

Licensing executives from Samsung and Nokia held a meeting on June 4, 2013 to discuss a patent license deal between these parties. In that meeting, a Samsung exec, Dr. Seungho Ahn, "informed Nokia that the terms of the Apple-Nokia license were known to him" and according to a declaration from Nokia's Chief Intellectual Property Officer, Paul Melin, "stated that Apple had produced the Apple-Nokia license in its litigation with Samsung, and that Samsung's outside counsel had provided his team with the terms of the Apple-Nokia license". The Melin declaration furthermore says that "to prove to Nokia that he knew the confidential terms of the Apple-Nokia license, Dr. Ahn recited the terms of the license, and even went so far as to tell Nokia that 'all information leaks.'"

 

[poematik13]

Geekbench scores of around 3k on these new phones are roughly the same as the first unibody MBP's in 2008. It's amazing how far we've come.

 

[creediddy]

Can someone run a Geekbench for me on the iPhone 6 Plus?

 

[teslo]

Actually concerns me. Despite the hate on these forums, Samsung is really good at what they do. Hopefully no logic board failures down the road.

the truthful things highlighted in the vanity fair article (and known within the industries for decades), means samsung - that 'kraaazy korean company' deserves animosity well beyond apple threads.

great products, great dishonor.

edit: ah, but the point of me bringing this up, is that maybe it's not a bad thing they have a little less cash on hand (via apple supply deals). maybe they'll focus a little more on R&D for their mobile devices as opposed to convincing apple-haters how much apple 'sucks' when their entire mobile division was kickstarted by the iphone and much of apple's R&D. you can only have so many 'we were FIRST' features that not many folks actually use before you have to admit you're not entirely on the right track.. might as well stop adding gimmicky gestures and pumping pixels at the thing, and focus ENTIRELY on getting your 2008 overstock phones into the hands of emerging market customers. pick a strategy.

 

[CrazyForApple]

ahhhh 20, I should of known

 

[Oblivious.Robot]

Geekbench Test FNALLY!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6d7Fes-eHA


Finally a benchmark test, with the iPhone 6, the 6 Plus and Galaxy S5!

 

[MyopicPaideia]

I want to know if the CPU/GPU is clocked higher in the 6+ model.

Given the extra pixels, one would logically think Apple will have clocked it higher, so that in tests, both device perform the same, despite the 6+ needing to do more work.

This would also explain the need for a larger battery as clocked higher parts would use more power.

I have not seen any speed comparison tests yet.

Someone MUST have done them already to compare both devices?

Tons up on Geekbench already of course. iPhone7,2 is doing a single/multi at around 1630/2930 and the iPhone 7,1 1615/2900. Leads me to believe that the 6+ is probably running the same clock speed...it could just be thermal efficiency accounting for that small difference? It isn't big at all...

 

[Danyboy]

I'm so glad it has a 20 nanometer processor! This is so helpful! Who needs more than 1Gb of RAM when you can have 20 nanometers! Right?

 

[iChrist]

I want to know if the CPU/GPU is clocked higher in the 6+ model.

Given the extra pixels, one would logically think Apple will have clocked it higher, so that in tests, both device perform the same, despite the 6+ needing to do more work.

This would also explain the need for a larger battery as clocked higher parts would use more power.

I have not seen any speed comparison tests yet.

Someone MUST have done them already to compare both devices?

The Verge noticed some lag in the 6+ vs the 6.

No matter, I wasn't interested in carrying an iPad mini in my pocket anyway.

 

[thekev]

Apple really could, and probably should, buy out TSMC at this point, if they want to do the whole vertical integration thing..

That is still an area where Apple lacks experience, and it's not necessarily the most profitable link in the chain. It seems counter to their previous strategies.

Geekbench scores of around 3k on these new phones are roughly the same as the first unibody MBP's in 2008. It's amazing how far we've come.

You have other interesting things. For example Apple implemented the compute shader portion of OpenGL ES in iOS some time ago. You did not have anything comparable on the (2008) unibody MBP's.

 

[kemal]

It's fast all right. Then launch Safari, open a few sites~maybe six windows. The RAM drops to 16MB free.

Go to another app and iOS purges the cached pages. Go back to Safari and the pages have to re-load. This is obviously a problem when finding a page on LTE and then calling someone, switching back to the page and - NOPE!

 

[Piggie]

The Verge noticed some lag in the 6+ vs the 6.

No matter, I wasn't interested in carrying an iPad mini in my pocket anyway.

That's a shame.
That's a dam shame.

Common sense would have told you, they would have tweaked the 6+ Internals to give the exact same, as near as they can speed.

As we keep hearing Apple want, above all else to give the same experience.

Not a bit laggy on the most expensive flagship model.

 

[mrbyu]

The Verge noticed some lag in the 6+ vs the 6.

No matter, I wasn't interested in carrying an iPad mini in my pocket anyway.

That is interesting, considering the fact that the iPad mini and Air (with weaker internals) seemingly don't have any problems driving even more pixels than the iPhone 6+.

Either the Verge guys should have their eyes checked, or it' might be simply a software optimization problem that will be ironed out.

As for me, I'm waiting for the 6S with presumably killer hardware. I went with the "tick" with my iP4 and iP5, this time (since my iP5 functions perfectly and I don't feel the need for an upgrade) I'll try the "tock".

 

[kwrzesien]

One chip shot does not make a statistically significant sample.

Samsung is said to be producing the A8 chip as well. It may either show up in iPhone 6's for certain markets/carriers (there are 40+ SKU's) or it may be directed entirely towards iPads.

My personal guess was that the iPhones would be Samsung and the iPads would be TSMC, but it could be flipped. Since the two use different packaging (RAM w/POP for the phones, off-package for iPad) it makes sense to split it up between the vendors. Sheer volume probably dictated which would be built where.