Apple Customer: "Excuse me, I'm looking for the TSMC version of the iPhone 6S. I don't want the Samsung one"
Apple employee: "..."
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TSMC's A9 Chip Outperforming Samsung's in Early iPhone 6s Battery Benchmarks
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Following the launch of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus last month, it was discovered that Apple is dual sourcing the A9 chip for the new devices from both TSMC and Samsung, with the chips from the two companies measuring at slightly different sizes due to different processes used in manufacturing the chips. As users began to determine which chips were used in their devices, data began to point toward a 60/40 split in favor of TSMC, although the ratio has shifted toward 50/50 as more data has been obtained.
Benchmarks have suggested there is little if any difference in chip performance between the two A9 variants, but some recent battery testing (via Engadget) is hinting at the possibility of significantly better battery life for models with the TSMC-manufactured A9 chip.
We should caution that data points remain few at this time and controlling for variables to accurately focus the comparison only on the differences in the A9 is difficult, but these limited tests are generating significant amounts of interest in our discussion forums and elsewhere.
Perhaps the most dramatic result comes from a reddit poster who compared Samsung and TSMC versions of the iPhone 6s Plus using the battery life test included in Geekbench 3, finding the TSMC version lasting nearly two hours longer than the model with Samsung A9 chip.
We asked John Poole of Primate Labs, the developers of Geekbench, for any insight into the dramatic differences being observed in some cases, and he noted there have been rumors of TSMC's 16-nanometer process being "superior" to Samsung's 14-nanometer process in power consumption. He was, however, surprised by the amount of difference in observed battery life considering the various components have essentially identical performance benchmarks. Ideally, further controlled testing can be performed to offer a more accurate comparison between the variants.
Geekbench battery tests on TSMC (left) and Samsung (right) iPhone 6s Plus variants
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Article Link: TSMC's A9 Chip Outperforming Samsung's in Early iPhone 6s Battery Benchmarks
One had Sim installed, the other didn't... Test needs to be done again with same settings.
As long as the device meets or exceeds the stated specifications, don't expect a return even if one you don't have is better.
If true, wonder if this is how Samsung achieved profitability.. Total speculation here: If TSMC knew their chip was better, they might not budge on price. If Samsung knew this, they might budge only slightly. Anyone out there know Apple's negotiated chip prices this round? Heheh again speculation and conjecture. Popcorn time 
To be honest I don't have the samsung and I have noticed worse battery life on 6S Plus than on my 6 Plus. But nothing that makes it unusable. Still have over 60% after a day of use but my 6 Plus used to have 80% after day.
1) People who were complaining the TSMC is less superior - IN YOUR FACE.
2) I would still like a comprehensive review done because I'm see in this thread another Youtube Video where there is no difference.
3) The message boards will explode - I understand the battery life but on the performance side, I wouldn't worry too much. It's also good to understand the usage models and how they play into the power loss.
2) I would still like a comprehensive review done because I'm see in this thread another Youtube Video where there is no difference.
3) The message boards will explode - I understand the battery life but on the performance side, I wouldn't worry too much. It's also good to understand the usage models and how they play into the power loss.
It doesn't help when Marco Arment tweets this but follows cautioning people that it could be much ado about nothing. Well why did he tweet it in the first place then?
Was this test with a single pair of these phones or were multiple examples used to test the battery life? I ask because I've had remarkably bad luck over the years with battery inconsistencies in production. I've got a 1st Gen iPod Touch that still lasts 5 hours over a half decade later and a 4th gen model that won't last 30 minutes and never did last that long to begin with. I've got a 5th gen iPod Touch that is less than a year old that is getting 5 hours max (reading books on it) when it should be getting 7 hours watching movies. I've gotten a home phone battery that died after one charge and a replacement one that did the same thing. I've got a weed whipper that runs on a recharable lead acid battery that is 9 years old and still holds a 30 minute charge weed whipping (40 originally maybe) and a hedge trimmer with a nickel metal hydride battery that didn't last 3 years and went maybe 10 minutes after the first year. My point is that rechargeable batteries are inconsistent and generally suck after all these years still. I wouldn't trust a single pair trial as far as I can spit. Now if they used many sets to compare it might be a different story. Since you can't just easily swap batteries you can't rule out the sources could be different there as well rather than just assume it's the CPU.
If there's one thing I've learned about Marco Arment over the years, it's that he loves attention more than anything else in the world, even money.
If true, wonder if this is how Samsung achieved profitability.. Total speculation here: If TSMC knew their chip was better, they might not budge on price. If Samsung knew this, they might budge only slightly. Anyone out there know Apple's negotiated chip prices this round? Heheh again speculation and conjecture. Popcorn time
I would be shocked if they used performance numbers for price negotiation. Apple has always been a multiple vendor based company. It wouldn't be performance as the reason for higher prices, it would be the fear of not meeting the supply demands with only using TSMC fabbed products.
If you were a developer with multiple vendors, you always use the lowest performance common denominator when defining your specifications.
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Another note:
People seriously have to stop saying "Samsung sucks". It would fair to say the performance alone from the Samsung still far out weights the performance of majority of not all Mobile CPU ARM based chips.
Also - Samsung is the doing the fabrication. The design work is from Apple and their Semiconductor team. Please understand the difference.
I upgraded from a 6 to a 6s and I've noticed some improvement in battery life which is to be expected with newer hardware.
You may have a defective unit or your software may have gotten corrupted. If you haven't already, try resetting your iPhone and reinstalling everything from scratch. It's a PITA but it worked for me a few years ago when I had a battery drain issue.
Don't know for sure what the deal is, but poster says they were performed with identical setups. Since the battery test runs it down to zero, those screenshots don't necessarily reflect the test setup. They were taken after the fact when the phones were being charged back up, so perhaps he did indeed move the SIM card around for the testing.
*grabs the popcorn, sits back in his recliner with his iPhone 6*
This is going to be good. This industry provides hours of free entertainment.
Typically when drama is predicted like this, it unfolds pretty undramatically. And the post is subsequently full of "this is gonna be good" type comments with nothing really interesting happening.
Maybe these chips are similar to VW. Maybe the TSMC chip knows when the Geekbench battery test is running and it under clocks by 60% but when it sees the performance test it over clocks by 20% so that it wins on both sides. Samsung forgot to add the testing trick to theirs or they only turned it up a little. Who knows.
My phone is fast. Coming from the 6 Plus, which was a fantastic phone, my 6S Plus is even better.
My phone is fast. Coming from the 6 Plus, which was a fantastic phone, my 6S Plus is even better.
For a comprehensive comparison, I'd want them to run standby battery tests to test the leakage of each chip. I'd also want them to do multiple runs with low power mode enabled (it looks disabled in the screenshot). The different processors could respond differently to voltage/clock changes.
That Engadget article is written by a macrumors forum member who doesn't work at Engadget
His sources are reddit post and a thread on here
His sources are reddit post and a thread on here