The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus running on the Samsung-manufactured A9 chipset reportedly delivers around two hours less battery life than the iPhones running on the A9 SoC made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, potentially creating a new problem for owners of the new iPhones, particularly those whose devices are fitted with the processor made by Samsung.
A number of tests shared over Reddit and corroborated by tests posted on the MacRumors forum show the battery life of the TSMC-based iPhone 6s significantly surpasses that of the Samsung-based phone.
One Geekbench test shared by a user on Reddit shows, while the TSMC iPhone 6s Plus has a battery score of 4703 and lasted nearly eight hours, the iPhone with Samsung's chip under the hood lags far behind with a score of 3653 and made it just five minutes after six hours. The tester says the test was made a couple of times with the same results, approximately a two-hour difference between the two.
"Both phones were tested using the same backup, same settings," the tester says. "Also tried them as new phones and results were similar."
A few commenters have pointed out that the TSMC iPhone runs on a Rogers SIM card, which may explain the difference in battery life, since the Samsung iPhone has no SIM inserted.
However, a few other tests have surfaced showing similar results. In the same Reddit thread, for instance, another user shared results of a couple of battery test conducted on the Chinese website My Drivers showing a 20 percent difference in battery life. One of the tests also showed a slight difference in temperature, with the Samsung chip registering at 37 degrees Celsius and the TSMC chip at 40 degrees Celsius. A few tests shared on the MacRumors forum also agree with the initial results.
Not too long ago, Apple was found to have sourced its A9 chips from TSMC and Samsung. On paper, Samsung's chip is supposed to do better, considering its 14-nanometer FinFet process is more advanced than the 16-nanometer technology used by TSMC.
It still remains to be seen, however, how the battery tests will affect real-world use of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. Early estimates show around 60 percent of iPhone 6s units run on the Samsung-made chip, while 30 percent of iPhone 6s Plus units run on the TSMC.
Users who want to find out which chip their new iPhones are running on can use an app called Lirum Device Info Lite, which they can download straight from the Apple App Store. The app will tell them which iPhone model they have. Models N71AP and N66AP are the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus running on the Samsung chip, while models N71MAP and N66MAP are those running on the TSMC chip.
