Samsung Might Not Be Part Of The Apple iPhone 7 A10 Chip-Making As Contract Will All Go To TSMC
Samsung may have nothing to do with the Apple iPhone 7 chip-making as the contract will reportedly go to TSMC only.
Though Apple and Samsung are fierce rivals in the mobile space, the iPhone is Samsung's gold mine as the South Korean tech titan is the manufacturer of various components of Apple's flagship phones.
While Samsung the Korean titan is working to win some of Apple's future AMOLED display business, latest reports suggest that with TSMC to produce the iPhone 7 A10 chip alone, it might miss out on the key component of the iPhone next year, reported BGR.
TSMC might manufacture Apple iPhone 7's A10 chip alone. Apple's next phone flagship, is expected to be powered by the "A10" processor and to manufacture the chipset is reportedly Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company alone, and Samsung will no longer be a part of it, reported AppleInsider.
In 2014, it was believed at first that Samsung was the sole maker of the Apple iPhone chip but later it was revealed the Cupertino-based company also contacted TSMC. The A8 chips of 2014 were produced largely by Samsung and TSMC.
The production of "A9" chips was 60 to 70 percent Samsung and 30 to 40 percent TSMC, said analysts Lionel Lin and Steven Pelayo of HSBC in a note to investors on Wednesday.
There were rumors that Apple is the first customer of TSMC to use its InFO packaging, or integrated fan-out in mass production. The technology was for the chips to be placed on top of each other and mounted to a circuit board directly, instead of onto a substrate. This reduced the weight and thickness of devices.
The analysts predicted the deal could add more than $300 million to the 2016 sales of TSMC, and would enable the company to reach a billion in 2017. The "A10" production is estimated to give TSMC between $2.2 to $2.5 billion in revenue.
TSMC may also be the sole maker of the A9X processor inside the 12.9-inch iPad Pro as suggested by a recent tear down of Apple's newest iPad.
If Samsung will no longer be part of the Apple iPhone chip making and if the Taiwanese semiconductor firm will become the exclusive manufacturer of the "A10" chip, that could lead to supply bottlenecks but there can also be technical benefits.
Furthermore, it could be that Apple prefers to distance itself from Samsung, its main rival in the world's smartphone race. The South Korean OEM is the leading smartphone maker worldwide, said AppleInsider.
