Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) supplies A9 chips for Apple's iPhone 6s/Plus along with Samsung last year. This time, according to news, TSMC is going to be an exclusive manufacturer for Apple's A10 and A11 chips for iPhone 7 and 8.
TSMC is going to be the sole supplier of the A10 chips which will power the upcoming iPhone 7 according to a report from Economic Daily News, which was translated by Digitimes from Chinese to English. The Taiwan-based company will also be the supplying A11 chip, Apple's next-generation processor for iPhone 8.
The chips made by the TSMC is said to be better than the chips made by Korean-based Samsung. The one from Taiwan runs cooler and offers a better battery life than the one made by its rival. TSMC has the technological edge against Samsung in creating the 10-nanometer processes. Apple described the differences as small but it could be the reason why they had TSMC as the sole supplier of the new chips.
TSMC had finalized the design for the A11 chip for the 2017 iPhone using their 10nm FinFET process technology. While reports say that iPhone 7 is going to be just like its predecessor, it was said that Apple is planning something special for their 10th anniversary iPhone model next year.
Meanwhile, the iPhone 7 is expected to have a better antenna lines and camera, bigger storage, Force Touch Home button and a Space Black color option. It will also be using a wireless headphone, as reported by 9to5Mac.
Rumors about the iPhone 8 say that its Home button will be embedded in its display which will allow quite smaller bevels. It may also use an all-glass with AMOLED screen with Touch ID and front-facing camera that may be built directly into the display. And since it will be something special, there is a possibility that is will use a different name than just using iPhone 8.
No exact date for the iPhone 8 yet aside from the year but iPhone 7 will be hitting the store shelves on September 16, 2016, according to a tweet of a reputable leaker, Evan Blass.
Meanwhile, here's a quick comparison of TSMC and Samsung chipset: