TSMC's 'Rush Orders' Presumably Fueling Broadcom Part Supplies for iPhone 5

[MacRumors]

Bloomberg reports that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has announced a spike in third quarter sales fueled by recent "rush orders", with industry experts suggesting that the demand is almost certainly coming from Broadcom as it fills orders for components of Apple's iPhone 5.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Broadcom's biggest supplier, last week said third-quarter sales would exceed earlier forecasts because of rush orders from an unnamed customer. Other large Taiwan Semiconductor clients have disclosed disappointing results, suggesting that the customer was probably Broadcom, rushing to meet demand from Apple, according to a supply-chain analysis by Bloomberg.

"Broadcom is the largest link between Apple and Taiwan Semiconductor," said Richard Davenport, a Bloomberg supply chain analyst, in a report. "Broadcom appears to be a likely candidate for Taiwan Semiconductor's rush orders."

Broadcom has historically provided the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth chip for Apple's iPhone products. It also provides a GPS chip for the GSM iPhone 4, but the need for that chip was eliminated in the CDMA iPhone 4, where the MDM6600 baseband chip from Qualcomm provides integrated GPS control circuitry.

The report notes that these rush orders for the parts presumed to be for Broadcom and Apple indicate that manufacturers are trying to make up for shortages of an existing component in the supply chain rather rolling out a new part. One analyst reasons that Broadcom should have anticipated the demand for its chips for the iPhone 5 and thus the rush order may not be for Apple, but it is possible that Apple is still seeking to boost production of the device as it anticipates strong early sales.

Article Link: TSMC's 'Rush Orders' Presumably Fueling Broadcom Part Supplies for iPhone 5

 

[chrmjenkins]

It will be interesting to see if the iPhone 5 goes for the qualcomm all-in-one solution for the radio.

Other point of interest, will this broadcom chip do 5 GHz N Wifi, or still only the 2.4 that we're used to? I don't see any need for it to be dual band. A phone doesn't need that much bandwidth. Bluetooth 3.0 or still stuck with 2.1?

 

[Ciwan]

Damn, when are they going to announce it

I'm caught between two good phones. Galaxy SII and the iPhone 4S/5.

I haven't decided which to go for yet. If the iPhone 4S/5 has good features (equal or more to the SII) I'll go with the iPhone.

If not, then the Galaxy it is.

 

[TWSS37]

omgomgomgomg!!

Credit card ready.

 

[spazzcat]

This is getting crazy even for Apple. Apple just tell us already...

 

[Tones2]

If Apple is projecting "early strong sales" that are greater than normal initial iPhone sales, they better give us at least a 4" screen and / or 64 GB, or they'll be in for a big disappointment. There's not gonna be a lot of current iPhone 4 users jumping on the bandwagon for just a slightly faster phone with a slightly better camera.

Tony

 

[Abyssgh0st]

It will be interesting to see if the iPhone 5 goes for the qualcomm all-in-one solution for the radio.

Other point of interest, will this broadcom chip do 5 GHz N Wifi, or still only the 2.4 that we're used to? I don't see any need for it to be dual band. A phone doesn't need that much bandwidth. Bluetooth 3.0 or still stuck with 2.1?

Definitely think it'll be 3.0 or 4.0- the new MBAs and Minis have 4.0 support already.

I'd really like 4.0 due to low battery drain, and I often have to turn Bluetooth off after long car drives (it's synced with my car), and I'd love to be able to leave it on all the time with very little drain when it isn't connected.

 

[gri]

I thought Apple had bought a large supply of FLASH storage already... So that means a new phone IS coming - but is it more like 4s or 5?

 

[spazzcat]

If Apple is projecting "early strong sales" that are greater than normal initial iPhone sales, they better give us at least a 4" screen and / or 64 GB, or they'll be in for a big disappointment. There's not gonna be a lot of current iPhone 4 users jumping on the bandwagon for just a slightly faster phone with a slightly better camera.

Tony

Unless ATT/VZW gives early upgrades, I don't see a lot of people upgrading anyways?

 

[newyorksole]

As long as it has 64GB or a bigger screen I'll be happy.

I already know iOS5 will be amazing, the design will be nice, it'll be faster and iCloud will be amazing too.

So everything else is just +++

 

[Memo86]

If Apple is projecting "early strong sales" that are greater than normal initial iPhone sales, they better give us at least a 4" screen and / or 64 GB, or they'll be in for a big disappointment. There's not gonna be a lot of current iPhone 4 users jumping on the bandwagon for just a slightly faster phone with a slightly better camera.

Tony

And there's a lot of people who thinks the same... Hopefully there's gonna be a bigger change than the chip and the camera.

 

[AtlasBoy]

Unless ATT/VZW gives early upgrades, I don't see a lot of people upgrading anyways?

I just checked my AT&T upgrade status and it says

"iPhone Upgrade
As a valued AT&T customer, we can offer you a discounted iPhone upgrade with a new 2-year commitment and an $18 upgrade fee."

Do you think that means? Is is the $299 price or something else? I upgraded to the IP4 when it came out last year.

 

[newyorksole]

I just checked my AT&T upgrade status and it says

"iPhone Upgrade
As a valued AT&T customer, we can offer you a discounted iPhone upgrade with a new 2-year commitment and an $18 upgrade fee."

Do you think that means? Is is the $299 price or something else? I upgraded to the IP4 when it came out last year.

Youre eligible for the lowest price iPhone (whatever that'll be)

 

[Sedrick]

Jeebus, next we'll be seeing imprints of the iPhone 5 on tacos in Mexico. Apple has to love the myth-like hype that their warmed over iPhone 4 is getting. Man the joke will be on us.

 

[Tones2]

Jeebus, next we'll be seeing imprints of the iPhone 5 on tacos in Mexico. Apple has to love the myth-like hype that their warmed over iPhone 4 is getting. Man the joke will be on us.

Mmmm....Apple tacos.....

 

[chrmjenkins]

Youre eligible for the lowest price iPhone (whatever that'll be)

There should be a page before that that has even plainer english. For instance, mine says "This line is not currently eligible for an iPhone upgrade." When I click the line and go further, it gives me my upgrade date of 11/25/11.

 

[cvaldes]

I thought Apple had bought a large supply of FLASH storage already... So that means a new phone IS coming - but is it more like 4s or 5?

This rumor has nothing to do with NAND flash memory.

Broadcom provides communications chips for Apple, not storage chips.

 

[Sedrick]

is that an.... iPhone 5 in my toast....?

 

[gri]

This rumor has nothing to do with NAND flash memory.

Broadcom provides communications chips for Apple, not storage chips.

Ah, my bad. Now are these multi-band, i.e. usable on Verizon and ATT at the same time...? Do we know?

 

[chrmjenkins]

Ah, my bad. Now are these multi-band, i.e. usable on Verizon and ATT at the same time...? Do we know?

Broadcomm makes wifi gps and bluetooth chips. Not involved with the cellular radio at all. That's Qualcomm and Infineon in iphones.

 

[Clayne]

is that an.... iPhone 5 in my toast....?

Oh the disappoint. It looks like a 4s.

 

[ChrisTX]

And there's a lot of people who thinks the same... Hopefully there's gonna be a bigger change than the chip and the camera.

I will be truly bummed if apple took an extra 3-4 months longer to release the iPhone if it's just a 4.

 

[chrmjenkins]

I will be truly bummed if apple took an extra 3-4 months longer to release the iPhone if it's just a 4.

As would most. It seems highly improbable apple would take all of this extra time to release a slight mod. It would seem that either 1 or more of the following would have to be true

1) Major redesign and/or
2) High initial volume. Adding Sprint, China Telecom etc.
3) Component shortages/delays

 

[gri]

Broadcomm makes wifi gps and bluetooth chips. Not involved with the cellular radio at all. That's Qualcomm and Infineon in iphones.

Too bad, so that leaves us with no specific information about the capabilities of the new phone.

 

[cvaldes]

Ah, my bad. Now are these multi-band, i.e. usable on Verizon and ATT at the same time...? Do we know?

Broadcom doesn't supply Apple with any cellular baseband chips. Apple is using an Infineon chip in the iPhone 4 and the HSPA-version (like AT&T) of the iPad 2.

The Verizon iPhone has a Qualcomm Gobi MDM6600 which is in fact a multi-mode chip that supports CDMA/EV-DO as well as GSM/EDGE/UTMS/HSPA.

This Qualcomm Gobi chip (or a successor design) would be the likeliest candidate for the next-generation iPhone.

Broadcom does make cellular broadband chips, but they are integrated SoCs with the CPU and graphics which doesn't fit into Apple's scheme as the latter are doing their own chip design with the A_ series SoCs.

Too bad, so that leaves us with no specific information about the capabilities of the new phone.

Unsurprising.

The specific information about the capabilities of the new handset would be provided by Apple, not their suppliers. You'll have to wait for Apple's official announcement, that's really the only credible source of information.

98% of Apple rumors on tech media sites end up being wrong anyhow. The only source you can look with confidence is www.apple.com/pr. Everywhere else is basically random speculative B.S. Good for a laugh, but not much more.