14 DAY TRIAL // Cupertino-based Apple has reportedly struck a deal with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for the manufacturing of chips for the upcoming iPhone models, thus ending its relationship with rival Samsung.
As part of a three-year deal that Apple signed with TSMC, the latter will begin to manufacture Apple’s A8 chips in July in small quantities, while set to ramp up production towards the end of the year. The chips are built using the 20-nanometer process.
The more advanced A9 and A9X chips, which use the 16-nanometer and 10-nanometer processes, respectively, will enter production sometime at the end of the third quarter of 2014, a recent article on DigiTimes reads.
The news site also notes that, while the A8 chip will power a new iPhone model that should become available sometime in the beginning of the next year, the A9/A9X chips will be used inside the next-gen iPhone and iPad products, set to be released in 2015 and beyond.
However, no official confirmation on the matter has been provided as of now from TSMC, it seems.