The Apple rumor mill is always churning, no matter how far along the product release cycle we are in. The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have not started to ship yet, but reports coming out of China have begun posting rumors about the new iPhone 7.
The latest we have heard about Apple's not-so-secret affairs says the iPhone maker has already sealed the deal on a partnership with its lone chipset manufacturer to develop the upcoming A10 chipset that will be outfitted into the future flagship iPhone. The lucky manufacturer to have secured the exclusive partnership is none other than Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the same company that continues to manufacture Apple's A8 processor for the Apple TV and Apple Watch.
The news comes from Chinese newspaper Commercial Times (via DigiTimes), which says Apple is gearing up for the mass production of its A10 chips in March 2016, in time for the iPhone 7's big reveal in the third or fourth quarter next year. According to the publication, the A10 chips will use TSMC's 16nm FinFET manufacturing process and its "in house developed backend integrated fan-out (InFO) water packaging," which is said to streamline production and cut down manufacturing costs.
Earlier reports have also claimed that Apple is looking into a system-in-package arrangement that will put multiple components, such as RAM and storage, into a single chipset, thereby freeing up space so that Apple can include a bigger battery or further slim down the iPhone 7's profile.
If the report is true, then Apple would be one step closer toward successfully cutting off its ties with Samsung. Although both smartphone titans are bitter rivals in the courthouse, they are actually business partners relying on each other to sustain a large part of their own businesses. Samsung, for instance, manufacturers 50 percent of the A9 chips being used to power the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The other half is taken care of by TSMC.
Of course, we still have a year to go before Apple finally unveils the new iPhones running on the A10 chipset, and that means a lot can happen between that time and now. In fact, the same rumor that Apple was ditching Samsung for the A9 processor also surfaced in the past, so it is worth taking every report about the iPhone 7 with a good dose of salt.
