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

ok retards,

APL0898 - 6S 14nm Samsung
APL1022 - 6S+ 16nm TSMC

please cry till its confirmed tomorrow.
 
Will everyone just chill out and wait for the Anandtech review? I'm sure they will address this. Personally I don't think this revelation makes much of a difference. TSMC is a very respectable foundry with years of experience crafting much more complex chips than the A9. I find it rather ironic that iPhone fans of all people are riding Samsung while disregarding a major player in the chip manufacturing business.
 
thope said:
ok retards,

APL0898 - 6S 14nm Samsung
APL1022 - 6S+ 16nm TSMC

please cry till its confirmed tomorrow.
Click to expand...
"... two identical Apple iPhone 6S phones contained two different A9 chips. The smaller is branded APL0898 and is manufactured using Samsung's 14nm Technology."
http://www.fudzilla.com/news/processors/38880-iphone-6s-has-a9-from-tsmc-or-samsung

"It was a surprise to find two different application processors in two otherwise identical phones"
https://www.chipworks.com/about-chipworks/overview/blog/a9-is-tsmc-16nm-finfet-and-samsung-fabbed

One can't extrapolate that all 6S models have Samsung processors just because iFixit got a Samsung 6S and TSMC 6+.
 
james-jones said:
If it really is the same process with different "branding," why is the Samsung chip 10% smaller as expected?
Click to expand...

As expected to what?

Article states there both using Finfet designs, wish I had an answer for you. If you look up statistics TSMC touted there 16nm Finfet+ design is 40% faster with the 55% efficiency which will be followed up with their 10nm tech.
 
chances are, power consumption of both the chips are pretty similar. i actually hope i get the tsmc chip when i buy my phone. it will run cooler.
 
Look...

If your phone freezes/overheats/laggy/slow and you've done a fresh install with the same results then stop moaning and contact/visit Apple.

Mine is super quick and a fantastic upgrade so I don't care which chip.
 
Shazamadoo said:
As expected to what?
Click to expand...
As expected based on math and physics - the same design on 14nm will be smaller than 16nm. A 105mm2 layout produced with a 16nm process will be closer to 95mm2 with a 14nm process. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_shrink for more.

Shazamadoo said:
If you look up statistics TSMC touted there 16nm Finfet+ design is 40% faster with the 55% efficiency which will be followed up with their 10nm tech.
Click to expand...
40% faster than what? Not Samsung's 14nm Finfet design.
 
thasan said:
chances are, power consumption of both the chips are pretty similar. i actually hope i get the tsmc chip when i buy my phone. it will run cooler.
Click to expand...
"... shrinking a die reduces the current used by each transistor switching on or off in semiconductor devices while maintaining the same clock frequency of a chip, making a product with less power consumption (and thus less heat production)"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_shrink
 
james-jones said:
As expected based on math and physics - the same design on 14nm will be smaller than 16nm. A 105mm2 design in 16nm will be closer to 95mm2 in 14nm. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_shrink for more.


40% faster than what? Not Samsung's 14nm Finfet design.
Click to expand...

Samsungs 14nm Finfet design which also got contracted out to global foundries was rated about 30% faster and 25% more efficient than samsungs 28nm tech.

TSMC stated there 16nm Finfet design is 30% faster and 25% more efficient than their 28nm tech and their Finfet+ is up to 40% faster and 55% more efficient than their 20nm SoC or 65% faster and 70% more efficient than their 28hpm tech
 
james-jones said:
"... shrinking a die reduces the current used by each transistor switching on or off in semiconductor devices while maintaining the same clock frequency of a chip, making a product with less power consumption (and thus less heat production)"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_shrink
Click to expand...

assuming both chips 1) are optimised for space (do u know they use same packaging? or pads? there is a good chance that the die size is larger to improve yield for TSMC 2) uses the same convention defining their finfet fab processes.
 
Shazamadoo said:
Samsungs 14nm Finfet design which also got contracted out to global foundries was rated about 30% faster and 25% more efficient than samsungs 28nm tech.

TSMC stated there 16nm Finfet design is 30% faster and 25% more efficient than their 28nm tech and their Finfet+ is up to 40% faster and 55% more efficient than their 20nm SoC or 65% faster and 70% more efficient than their 28hpm tech
Click to expand...
There are four fabs that can produce the 14nm Samsung Finfets: Samsung has three, two for mass production and one for prototyping while there is only one run by Globalfoundries.

Those performance numbers are meaningless. Which designs does each correlate to?
 
Rogifan said:
Seriously? That many people read MacRumors or other tech sites and will be concerned about this? Jeezus people just enjoy your devices and stop looking for problems!
Click to expand...

What a stupid Tim Cook comment in your signature. Didn´t know that guy can be such a redneck...
 
james-jones said:
There are four fabs that can produce the 14nm Samsung Finfets: Samsung has three, two for mass production and one for prototyping while there is only one run by Globalfoundries.

Those performance numbers are meaningless. Which designs does each correlate to?
Click to expand...

They mean more then u saying they are meaningless considering it's being stated by them.. the companies making them...
 
thasan said:
assuming both chips 1) are optimised for space (do u know they use same packaging? or pads? there is a good chance that the die size is larger to improve yield for TSMC 2) uses the same convention defining their finfet fab processes.
Click to expand...
The scaling in die size matches the scaling in fabrication nodes.
 
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