Apple and Samsung's love-hate relationship is set to take a new turn as the former has allegedly bid adieu to the latter as the chipmaker for its upcoming iPhone 8 smartphone.
According to a new report from Digitimes, which cites Chinese publication Economic Daily News (EDN), Apple, which has in the past deployed chips from Samsung in the iPhone 6s Plus and iPhone 6s, has dropped Samsung and ended the partnership.
Apple is apparently sticking to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) as its sole supplier for the A11 chips for the 2017 model of the iPhone dubbed the iPhone 8.
TSMC also produced the A9 chip for the iPhone 6s along with Samsung. However, in February this year, the company revealed that it was the exclusive manufacturer for the impending A10 chipset for the iPhone 7, which is slated for release in September this year.
"TSMC is already the exclusive manufacturer of Apple's A10 chip, which will power the upcoming iPhone series slated for launch in September 2016. The Taiwan-based foundry will continue to be the sole supplier of Apple's next-generation A11 processor that will be built on a 10nm FinFET process," notes the new report.
The report does not cite any sources and, therefore, the authenticity of the information is circumspect. However, considering Apple is only sticking to TSMC for the iPhone 7's A10 chip, a strong possibility exists that it is considering to follow this policy for its future iPhones as well.
For those wondering why Apple is discarding Samsung completely, it could possibly be due to the fact that the latter is one of its primary competitors. Secondly, Apple is allegedly quite impressed with the 10nm FinFET process of manufacturing that TSMC deploys. Moreover, this process seems to be more cost effective for Apple when compared to the one offered by Samsung.
That is not all: Apple is also enthralled by the integrated fan out or InFO architecture that TSMC uses. This architecture apparently allows the company to develop chips that are tinier, more energy efficient and lightweight.
Earlier in May, industry sources reported that TSMC had begun churning out the design for the A11 processor for the iPhone 8. The sources also shared that the Taiwan-based chipmaker could potentially start the production of the A11 chips on a small scale by the second quarter of 2017.
With the iPhone 7 poised for release in a few months from now, we will soon know if Apple's decision of having TSMC as its sole chip manufacturer is a good one or not. Either way, one thing's for sure: competition is heating up.
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns | Flickr
