AppleInsider Staff
A report on Thursday once again affirms rumors that Apple is contracting Samsung to manufacture A-series processors expected for inclusion in next-generation iPhone handsets.
Citing sources close to the matter, Bloomberg says Samsung is slated to fabricate Apple's forthcoming system on chip design, potentially dubbed "A9," bound for this year's iOS device lineup. If true, Samsung would reclaim a position currently filled by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world's largest chipmaker.
Samsung's plant in Giheung, South Korea, is said to be a main point of manufacture, with additional orders going to partner GlobalFoundries. GlobalFoundries, which joined forces with Samsung last year in an attempt to stave off unchecked growth by TSMC, licenses the Korean company's 14-nanometer fabrication technology. The process is a step ahead of TSMC's 20-nanometer process used to produce Apple A8 SoCs, which power iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and recent iPad models.
Samsung has for months been rumored to be a key supplier of Apple's next-generation silicon, the most recent report coming in February. It was said in December that Samsung was already trialling A9 production after TSMC failed to compete with its own 16-nanometer process.
In addition to chip architecting, Samsung is also rumored to provide DRAM modules for Apple's A9, meaning a good portion of critical iPhone components could be produced by the Galaxy maker.
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39 Comments
Oxygen for Samsung...
Apple Insider, you are amazing! I contacted you a few weeks ago with TWO similar Bloomberg articles stating TSMC had won, but you chose to ignore BOTH articles. Now Bloomberg reports Samsung has won and right on queue, you publish an article about it. If this is not Samsung promotion, I do not what is. I even contacted Daniel about the Apple Insider silence about the TSMC wins. Amazingly, I let him know I was hopeful Apple Insider would publish an article about the TSMC wins. Oh well. Go, Apple/Samsung Insider! Ultimately though, I truly hope Samsung does not screw Apple over by blatantly stealing even more Apple technology, which of course would provide this site with quite a few articles chastising Samsung for doing exactly what Samsung does to customers it is trying to destroy.
I don't really care who makes the next A Series processor for Apple. All I know is it's going to again set the benchmark for world's most advanced ARM processor.
With the A8 being a mild tweak of the A7, I'm expecting the A9 to be a more significant upgrade.
Apple Insider, you purposefully chose to skip publishing the following from the Bloomberg report to make Samsung look good. What's up with that?
Samsung will start making the A9 processor chips at it Giheung plan in South Korea, the people said, asking not to be identified because the contract hasn't been discussed publicly. Additional orders will go to Samsung's partner Globalfoundries Inc., according to another person familiar with the arrangement.
I have previously written that the "Samsung won" rumors usually hit just before Samsung announces its quarterly earnings. Right on queue, here is another rumor AND it is blindly propelled as fact by Apple Insider.
I must not forget Samsung spends a ton of money on this site promoting its Six Appeal. Biting the hand that feeds is probably not a good idea.
And they said Samsung couldn't make money in mobile! ????