Lukáš Čambala It's no secret that Apple would like to break away from its main competitor, Samsung, so that the supply of components from its side is as low as possible, or preferably not at all. However, this "separation" will be largely manifested only in 2018. The new Apple A12 processors should no longer be manufactured by Samsung, but by its competitor - TSMC.
TSMC should supply Apple with processors for future iPhones and iPads this year - the Apple A12. These should be based on a very economical 7 nm manufacturing process. Moreover, it seems that Apple will not be the only customer. Many other companies have applied for the new chips. The latest news is that TSMC has enough capacity to meet all the demand. In the ideal case, Apple will not have to turn to Samsung at all.
Samsung is starting to lose its positions
It would be no exaggeration to say that TSMC is somewhat ahead of Samsung in manufacturing technology. This year, we should expect to see the exhibition of a new hall at TSMC, which will ensure the production of processors based on the more advanced 5 nm production process. In 2020, the transition to a 3 nm production process is planned. If we don't see more noticeable progress with Samsung, it is quite certain that its market position could drop significantly within a few years.
Source: Patently Apple
this is a discovery - only tmsc has been producing apple processors since the A9X in 2015, the last processor where part of the production went to samsung was the A9 (the A8 and A8X were also only tmsc)