iPhone 6s Uses Different-Sized A9 Chips From Samsung and TSMC

[Bako-MacAddict]

I wish I wouldn't have read this! I'm freaking out now! Kidding. All I know is that my iPhone is a beast and its running perfectly fine. I could care less what chip is in my phone. Longest it keeps performing the way it's been performing, I'll be a happy camper. I'm extremely happy with my device. Battery has been great , no lags nor heating issues.

 

[KPOM]

this explains why some battery tests have been showing up to a 25% loss in battery life (see Itweaks) whilst others have improved.. it has to do with the 16nm vs 14nm chip. a 14nm chip IS more efficient no matter what excuse you try to make..

It won't explain that kind of variability. Both are still quite smaller than the 21nm process used on the A8.

 

[Keirasplace]

this explains why some battery tests have been showing up to a 25% loss in battery life (see Itweaks) whilst others have improved.. it has to do with the 16nm vs 14nm chip. a 14nm chip IS more efficient no matter what excuse you try to make..

No it don't. Those are much more likely app, OS and config issues. Like always. The diff were talking his is quite small. I'm really tired of people making this kind of crazy, yes crazy, leap in logic.

 

[Keirasplace]

Dang. This guy!! So much for CNTRL>ALT>DELETE

By the way, what's the square root of the Apple Campus?
jk....
Thanks for the info... whatever it means.

Somebody else in this thread, who works in the industry, said that was all wrong... So, maybe you shouldn'T praise hiim ;-).

 

[Keirasplace]

So maybe I missed something. Where was it confirmed that the tsmc chip caused overheating and battery issues?

It wasn't. But, you know the mind will assign any random X, wheter X is real or not, to whatever scapegoat is available. We're good at that ;-).

 

[AppleHater]

The desperate hunt for Samsung cpu starts...

 

[Denmac1]

Why would it affect performance ?

If its a smaller chip physical, that just shows components there were previously separate chips are now on-die..

The same happens in the desktop word too.

Result, faster performance.

Now, all this talk of chips is making me extremely hungry.

mmmmm, Salsa & Guacamole....

Ya know, as long as it works. And do we know if this has been done before?

 

[Shazamadoo]

Do people use their phone till 1% battery? What will a 10minute extra battery drain (if there is any) do for u?

To the people freaking out, what do you do on ur phone that is soo dam performance intensive where a 14nm/16nm is a deciding factor.. Apple obviously does not see it an issue for their phones.

I'm sure in the real world there will be no difference at all in performance or efficiency. Maybe in a controlled state where u put both chips under an extreme situation maybe? But for making calls, browsing, emailing, you tubing, etc. I bet both chips passes Apples guidelines..

 

[Ries]

Seriously? The iPhone 6 used an A8 built on a 21nm fab. The Apple Watch uses a 28nm process. Why aren't these catching fire?

Because the 6s is 70% faster?

 

[recklesslife85]

Who cares, my 6S Plus runs great. People looking for excuses now to moan at Apple.

 

[n-evo]

Waiting for the first person to go nuts over this and break open their iPhone to find out.

 

[GalvaJ]

I would like to report that since I received my iPhone 6s on Friday at noon I have been loving this phone. I haven't found one flaw yet in the experience of using it every day for the last 4 days.

But, now after reading this article... I am still just as happy with my phone as I was before I read this article. C'mon guys. Let's not start going crazy over your neighbors iPhone 6s have chip 2 nanometers smaller than the one in yours. Them playing music loud that doesn't let you sleep, I'll hear you out on that one, but this? C'mon now. Tweetbot and Tapatalk will still be just as fast to your eyeballs and fingers

 

[gnasher729]

Does this also mean a slightly better battery-life for the 'Samsung chip version'?

What would you make think that? I'd expect slightly better battery life for TSMC chips, a company that has a lot more experience building chips. I wouldn't buy a refrigerator from TSMC - for the simple reason that they don't build any. For chips, they are number one.

And I'm sure majority of people, including myself, would like to know they received the version with the Samsung chip...

Don't think so. There may be some Samsung haters on these boards who insist on TSMC, but most people don't care.

 

[jimbo1mcm]

I can tell by the weight that my 6S Plus has the TSMC chip.

 

[jacobj]

I love the split on this thread: those that are outraged that others might think it's an issue; those that think it is an issue and those who are concerned it might be an issue and are reassuring themselves by posting positive comments.

What do we know? The chips use different die sizes.

What we don't know: whether it makes any difference to the user experience.

If we find that it doesn't, then there is no need to have an issue, if we find that there is a negligible difference, then some will feel justified in complaining, but most of us will get on with our lives. If there is a tangible difference, then we will all be peeved, but most of us won't do anything about it, but the media will make a thing of it.

But, at present, 11 pages of comments in response to a fact that raises questions for which we don't yet have answers is incredible, especially given the comments are of a type that one would expect to the answers that we don't have.

 

[Serban]

we have to agree that samsung has more expertise in building hardware

 

[modemthug]

NANOGATE

There's a pun in there somewhere

 

[james-jones]

What would you make think that? I'd expect slightly better battery life for TSMC chips, a company that has a lot more experience building chips.

The Samsung die is 10% smaller with a 14nm manufacturing process, which would inherently have better power efficiency than a 16nm chip using the same design.

 

[RedWeasel]

What a modern logo tsmc have, hope i have one of their chips in my phone

If you have a iPhone 6 or 6 Plus (the Non-S versions of 2014), then you do anyway...

 

[Eugene]

Oh what the hell Apple...

When the first G3s (PPC 750) came out, Motorola was still using aluminum interconnects while IBM had switched to copper.

As far as other components, I find this only a little more drastic than using different sources for display panels, storage, etc.

For example, when I bought my 2011 MacBook Air, there were 3 options for displays: LG, Samsung and AU Optronics.

There were 2 options for SSD storage: Toshiba and Samsung.

I ended up with the worst combo: AU Optronics and Toshiba.

 

[Agent OrangeZ]

This is like when Retina MacBook Pro users kept returning their laptops to try to get a different screen from the LG/Samsung pool.

 

[james-jones]

This is like when Retina MacBook Pro users kept returning their laptops to try to get a different screen from the LG/Samsung pool.

Who wanted that ugly color cast on what was promoted as the best screen ever sold? Or the ghosting?

Can't wait to see the Samsung vs TSMC benchmark war!

 

[TechGod]

When the first G3s (PPC 750) came out, Motorola was still using aluminum interconnects while IBM had switched to copper.

As far as other components, I find this only a little more drastic than using different sources for display panels, storage, etc.

For example, when I bought my 2011 MacBook Air, there were 3 options for displays: LG, Samsung and AU Optronics.

There were 2 options for SSD storage: Toshiba and Samsung.

I ended up with the worst combo: AU Optronics and Toshiba.

That is painful.

 

[recoil80]

Not sure whether it will be called SizeGate or ChipGate.
I want the TSMC version of A9, because bigger is better

I wonder why they didn't chose to put Samsung's chip on the 6s and TSMC on the 6s+

 

[Shazamadoo]

Well, a quick google article read TSMC is the leading foundry vs Samsung and global.

A year old article states that all major foundries use 20nm traditional planar transistors but will introduce Finfet designs which TSMC calls 16nm and Samsung calls 14nm, both companies stating their chips will be about 30% higher speed and about 25% more efficient then their 28nm technology.