14 DAY TRIAL // A report out of South Korea today reveals that Samsung Electronics has scooped up almost the entire batch of A9 chip orders from Apple and that production of the SoCs has already started.
The English-translated ET News report, citing industry insiders, clearly states that “on December 11, SEC began production of Apple's A9 in the Austin plant in the US using the 14nm FinFET technology. Samsung has production lines capable of FinFET process production in Austin, US and Giheung, Korea, but began to produce A9 only in Austin as it is in the initial stage.”
The report corroborates earlier rumors that Samsung has renewed its fruitful partnership with Apple to develop the exotic A-series processors that are paramount for the latter’s iPhone and iPad business. In fact, other rumors suggest that Apple might even introduce an all-new MacBook Air also based on the A-series SoC (system on a chip), but those talks are unfounded.
In addition to the revamped MacBook Air, the company is also said to be planning a new iPad Pro and the incremental iPhone 6S which, unlike previous years, will be deployed in spring. It was recently reported that such plans had been delayed because the A9 chips weren’t yet on the table, but with production of the processors now underway, it may seem that Apple’s plans to release the 6S early could materialize.
