Ondrej Holzman Apple needs to produce so many new iPhones 6S and 6S Plus that it unusually left the production of the essential component – the A9 processors, which it designs itself – to two companies. But as it turned out, the chips coming from Samsung factories are different from those from TSMC factories, and the latest tests indicated that the processors could be not only different in size, but also different in performance.
Different chips in the same iPhones she revealed dissection at the end of September chipworks. It was discovered that Apple uses processors with the same A6 designation in the iPhone 6S and 9S Plus, but some are manufactured by Samsung and some by TSMC.
Samsung manufactures components with 14nm technology, and compared to TSMC's 16nm, its A9 processors are ten percent smaller. As a rule, the smaller the production process, the lower the processor's demand on the battery, for example. However, the latest tests surprisingly reveal the exact opposite.
It appeared on Reddit several comparisons two identical iPhones, but one with a chip from Samsung, the other from TSMC. User raydizzle purchased two 6GB iPhone 64S Plus and used GeekBench for both devices tested. The result: the iPhone with the TSMC processor lasted almost 8 hours, the one with the Samsung chip lasted about 6 hours.
“I ran the test several times and the results were consistent. There was always a difference of about 2 hours. Both phones had the same backup, same settings. I also tried to factory reset both phones and the results were the same.” comments results raydizzle, who was surprised because he would have expected the smaller chip to be more energy efficient.
Apple did not comment on this fact when introducing the iPhones, nor later, when it came up. So it is not even clear which part of which company participates in the production of A9 processors. At least we have indicative results thanks to developer Hiraku Jiro, who created an app that can detect which processor you have in your iPhone 6S.
His CPUIdentifier is an unverified app that you can install at your own risk, however, it allows Jira to create graphs showing which chips are found in which iPhones. Currently, according to his data consisting of 60 thousand records (half iPhone 6S, half iPhone 6S Plus), the division of A9 chip production between Samsung and TSMC is practically half to half. For the iPhone 6S, however, Samsung supplies slightly more chips (58%), and for the larger iPhone 6S Plus, TSMC has the upper hand (69%).
You can also find out what processor is running in your iPhone via the Lirum Device Info Lite application, which can be found in the App Store and should not be potentially harmful to your device. Code under item Model manufacturer reveals: N66MAP or N71MAP means TSMC, N66AP or N71AP is Samsung.
Well-known tech YouTubers also conducted their own tests to reach similar conclusions as shown by GeekBench. Jonathan Morrison did a real-world test. He charged two identical iPhones to 100%, shot a video in 10K for 4 minutes and then exported it in iMovie. When he then ran a few more benchmarks, the iPhone with the TSMC chip had 62% battery, the iPhone with the Samsung chip at 55%.
A difference of eight percentage points might not be that big of a deal, but if he ran the same test again, the iPhone with the TSMC processor would score 24%, while the one with the Samsung component would score just 10%. This can be quite essential in practice. Similar the test was performed by Austin Evans and the iPhone with a TSMC chip actually lasted a bit longer.
[youtube id=”pXmIQJMDv68″ width=”620″ height=”360″]
At the time of purchase, the customer has no chance to discover which chip the new iPhone is buying with, and if the aforementioned tests were confirmed and the components from TSMC were indeed much more friendly to the battery, it could be a problem for Apple. Apple has not yet commented on the problem, and it will certainly be appropriate to wait for further, more detailed tests, which they promised, for example, in chipworks, but it is certainly a topic for discussion now. For the average user, the different efficiency of the chips may not be essential, but it can already play a role when using the iPhone 6S to the maximum. We have here #chipgate?
Even half the battery life must be enough for everyone, it's all about optimization and Apple has mastered this perfectly.
You're crazy? Half life with Apple means 10 hours max. Will you charge twice a day? That's what I call a super gadget. And what kind of optimization are you talking about at Apple? Since the release of iOS 2, which was supposed to focus primarily on stability and optimization, 9 (in other words, 2) fixes have already been released. Here you can read discussions from the owner of the "optimized" iProduct. You won't even hear so much noise at a gypsy funeral, which is here on this server. So calm down and have some judgement. Otherwise, if your comment was intended as irony, then I deeply apologize.
Exactly. Practical:
For example, I get up for work at 4:30 in the morning. Here and there, on the bus on the way to work, I turn on a game for 5 minutes, read something on the Internet, turn on Music for about 20 minutes (the same on the way back), read something during the break (it shows 40% now) and in the evening the flashlight shows 5-10%. With the fact that at the end of the day the mobile phone is practically lying on the table and I don't do anything with it.
If I used the mobile phone (iP6) even a little more, it has no chance of lasting the whole day. That is, to have my A8 chip from TSMS and if it lasted 2 hours more, I would be happy.
Because this way I have to keep an eye on the battery so that I don't accidentally surf the net longer than I should. Which is pretty annoying. It's true that one would also waste that energy on higher ground, but...
And is the raw computing power the same or is it also different?
These are mostly people who think that if they install the latest iOS on iP4s, it will work the same as on iP6s and then they cry instead of buying a newer iProduct... And they are like at a gypsy funeral
I would really like to know what chip is in my iPhone 6s, unfortunately the Lirum Device Info Lite app is not available in the Canadian app store. Parada... Does anyone know of any other way to find out? Thanks
and for 2015 we are introducing ChipGate together with the new iphone :D :D :D :D
Well, I have an Ip 4s I grew up on apple, so for me apple is not an iphone but a computer and it runs great on that iPhone and it's really better than ios 8 and I'm not talking about the new OS X El Capitan. Apple is simply not a competition and thank God for that! Oh, and for the demented people who brag about some apple product in the style of "I'm richer, I'm better," then go to hell! You are not better than other people, even the one who founded Samsung has done more than you, so don't exalt yourself above others and run to do whatever you can.
a normal user will not notice the difference. brawl happily.
I don't think he noticed. It's quite a big difference to have 2 hours and not.
Look, I've got apples, but I don't want to call it that, but it's nice to see those sheep let their tails be pulled.
System Status / sysstat.techet.net also provides the same info as Lirů