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samsung does 14nm finfet
tsmc does 16nm finfet


that's why they are different. there's a small likelihood that tsmc chips will run hotter, but whether or not the end user can perceive that is not very likely.
 
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It was rumored yesterday that AMD will be using TSMCs 16nm fabs instead of Global Foundry's 14nm fabs for their next gen CPUs next year. GFs 14nm should have the same specs as Samsungs 14nm*, so that would suggest that TSMCs 16nm process is quite mature and a suitable alternative to 14nm.

*(Samsung and Global Foundries developed their 14nm technology together, but samsung got their fabs operational much more quickly than GF has been able to).
 
at the quantities that apple is ordering, it was very smart that they split the order because of how new the 14/16nm node is. Samsung is probably very reliable producing 14nm at high quantity because theyve been doing it for abotu a year already with the s6. So they probably charged apple more.
 
This "ChipGate" is stupid. The only case I can see here is if one gets a noticeable increase in battery life.

I'm not even sure that matters. As long as the lower battery life of the two, should it somehow exist, meets what's advertised.
 
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Did anybody else notice on iFixit teardowns that the APL0898 is in the 6s and the APL1022 is in the 6s Plus? The smaller chip in the smaller phone, bigger chip in the bigger of the two..

That would make sense. The 6S+ has a larger battery so can handle the greater power consumption of the bigger one.
 
I'm hoping that I have the TSMC.
Think about it; Who stands to gain if the Samsung chip has bug. I've always wondered why Apple has given Samsung so much business.
 
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That would make sense. The 6S+ has a larger battery so can handle the greater power consumption of the bigger one.
The rumor is that TSMC is providing 30% of the chips, which sounds about right for the 6s/6s+ distinction.
 
No doubt the supply pipeline, and the possible disruptions to that inherent with single-source providers were foremost on Apple's mind; hopefully their testing revealed the performance differences between the chips to be negligible.

We've got enough to worry about already.
 
If Apple can't fulfil the demand when a new device is released, people complain.

If Apple sources components from two different manufacturers to alleviate supply constraints, people complain.

I think the only way people will be satisfied is if Apple recruits Albus Dumbledore himself to make the phones by magic.

We have the right to complaint because the phones are not free.
 
I remember back when Apple used both Toshiba and Samsung to source SSDs for the MacBook Air. The Samsung SSDs were somewhat faster on certain benchmarks, and people would do elaborate tests to figure out which version they had. In this case, I doubt there will be any noticeable difference. It's not like one is on a 28nm process and the other is on a 14nm process. It's probably a yield issue. Samsung uses 14nm for its own products, and hasn't yet scaled up to make enough chips for both itself and Apple. TSMC has a similar process that yields processors only slightly larger, and so Apple sent the "overflow" to them.
 
WOW. Turns out my wife and I have same phone, one runs hot and has been more laggy. I bet this is the reason. How do I find out which chip we have? Will definitely return one. Why Apple would do this is beyond me.
Not sure if serious. :rolleyes:

If you do have a laggy phone, have Apple look at it. Maybe you got a defect or a bad software installation. I doubt TSMC vs. Samsung is going to make any noticeable difference.
 
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Chipworks suggests Apple's decision to use processors from both companies points towards "major sourcing problems," but over the last few years, Apple has opted to diversify its supply chain to prevent manufacturing hurdles that can potentially lead to delays.

Multiple sources, especially for critical components, is always a good thing.

Also, two words: "bidding wars."
 
at the quantities that apple is ordering, it was very smart that they split the order because of how new the 14/16nm node is. Samsung is probably very reliable producing 14nm at high quantity because theyve been doing it for abotu a year already with the s6. So they probably charged apple more.

Perhaps. My guess is that Apple gets a pretty good volume discount when they order 90 million A9 chips to meet the launch demand.
 
I think it has to do with the insane amount of parts Apple needs to order.

Clearly they cannot get 100 million parts from one supplier.

I'm sure they would like to... but it's impossible.

Buy Intel. Fire everybody. Shut down all manufacturing operations in the US. Ship all the cutting edge manufacturing know-how to TSMC/China to mass-produce Apple A-processors 365 days a year. Move all Apple products to ARM. Watch the entire PC industry + Microsoft, reliant on Intel chips file for bankruptcy. In one stroke Apple owns the personal computing, server and mobile markets.
 
Buy Intel. Fire everybody. Shut down all manufacturing operations in the US. Ship all the cutting edge manufacturing know-how to TSMC/China to mass-produce Apple A-processors 365 days a year. Move all Apple products to ARM. Watch the entire PC industry + Microsoft, reliant on Intel chips file for bankruptcy. In one stroke Apple owns the personal computing, server and mobile markets.

Better buy AMD as well for good measure ;) They're cheap.
 
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