Technology

Here’s Secret About iPhone 6s’ Component Apple Doesn’t Want You To Know

Amin Roslan October 12, 2015

A lot has been going on in the internet lately regarding #chipgate.

No, it’s not about the surface of the iPhone 6S chipping out easily.

It’s about the iPhone 6S/6S Plus having their processor chip differ than the other.

It’s not planned, but it’s randomly distributed without any report, hence the term #Chipgate.

Ready to get your eyes wet? Nah, just kidding.

What is Chipgate?

What #chipgate is all about is basically Apple having two well-known companies, Samsung & TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company), to create a custom-made processor chip, the A9, for the iPhone 6S/6S Plus.

It doesn’t really look like a big of a deal, but get this, Chipworks reports both chips are different in size factor.

That is, TSMC-made chip being larger than Samsung-made chip.

Fun fact, both were also made in different processes, where the Samsung-made chip is made on a 14nm process, the other being TSMC-made chip, goes through a 16nm process.

Chipworks also assumed that the A9x chip found in the iPad Pro line might be affected as well.

Reports and Findings

However, early reports started in Macrumors, where a fellow forumer suggests that his Samsung-powered iPhone 6S was generating a lot of heat and bad battery life.

I guess he really did, burst into flames, when he found out.

Other than that, two known Youtubers, Austin Evans & Jonathan Morrison (TLDtoday) made their tests respectively, on the phones.

Interestingly, reports coming from Chipworks stating that the smaller die size chip by Samsung, actually shows quite of a leadership in technology scaling.

We all can’t really argue that is true, about Samsung trying to make their products as minimal as possible.

I mean, look at their televisions! The team at Chipworks also quote,

[block_quote quote = ‘1|0’]The reason Apple is dual-sourcing a custom designed part and launching on day one with both parts, suggests major sourcing problems. For cost and power reasons, there is little reason to run a larger die, unless the smaller die was not available at the right volumes.”[/block_quote]

Photo: Chipworks.com

This however shows that, Apple really wants to cut cost, for what reason that’s up to them.

For those who didn’t really understood what ‘die’ is , it’s a small block in large numbers, running around an integrated circuit (chip).

It’s okay, I didn’t understood it at first too.

Apple confirmed to CNET Executive Editor that there is 2 to 3 percent difference in battery life in real life usage.

The titanic company also added,

[block_quote quote = ‘1|0’]With the Apple-designed A9 chip in your iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus, you are getting the most advanced smartphone chip in the world. Every chip we ship meets Apple’s highest standards for providing incredible performance and deliver great battery life, regardless of iPhone 6s capacity, color, or model.”[/block_quote]

[block_quote quote = ‘1|0’]Certain manufactured lab tests which run the processors with a continuous heavy workload until the battery depletes are not representative of real-world usage, since they spend an unrealistic amount of time at the highest CPU performance state.”[/block_quote]

[block_quote quote = ‘1|0’]It’s a misleading way to measure real-world battery life. Our testing and customer data show the actual battery life of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, even taking into account variable component differences, vary within just 2-3 per cent of each other.”[/block_quote]

Another report, comes from a Reddit user, stating that there is a 2-hours difference In battery life.

Austin Evans from youtube states that the TSMC-powered phone achieved 1.5 times better battery life and 3 degrees Celcius cooler than Samsung-powered phone.

More users are also conducting their own little experiments in the internet.

In terms of performance, the TSMC-made chip scored a slightly higher number in both single and multi core tests in GeekBench 3, than the Samsung-made chip.