So you say we should look into the history and then proceed to speculate on almost every aspect.

If we are really going to look into history, I would suggest we learn that lots of people who show a pathological dislike for Apple will keep posting claiming it is a huge issue. Click bate articles will be written, and those that own and use the devices will get on with their lives and be very happy with the device they purchased.

I've got a 6s+ with the samsung a9 and the battery in real world use is the same as my old 6+.

It just took a few re-charge cycles for the battery to get up to speed.

These comparisons are utter drivel as there are 2 many variables involved and the motivation is to create a bend gate style click bait non issue so some sad nerd can make some money.

Obviously yes. the 33% extra battery life had a simple explanation that is likely unforthcoming.
Im being simplistic in saying someone made it up, but as that is where most of it started, without any proper technical data, we have to assume it mainly fake.


What I find totally baffling, is why Apple did not simply use 16nm for the non Plus and 14nm for the Plus. Different Socs for different products would likely have left out all the confusion.

The Samsung and Apple fanboys are probably totally unable to cope with the paradox here.

Samsung fans ridicule Apple, but it's a Samsung chip causing the issue. Oops.

Apple fans insist it's not an issue, but at the same time it's down to Samsung so how can you miss an opportunity to attack?

Ultimately, this issue is apparently serious enough that Apple will seek to drop Samsung completely from supplying the chipsets for the next iPhone - which means that internally this is looked upon as a problem even if officially it's no big deal.

Personally, I'm glad such practices are being made more public as this isn't a new thing and certainly not confined to Apple or Samsung - but most people didn't have a clue before and other devices have had a similar 'lottery' where some devices performed better than others.

As I said, Galaxy S6 owners have at least two image sensors with different characteristics, and Sony devices can have different displays. I am sure there are many more examples I'm not aware of.

Checked the Mrs 6S yesterday, it's a Samsung chip but I couldn't give a toss to be honest, the battery life is way way better than the 5S it replaced and it's also abit better than my 6.

There have been stories of Apple dropping Samsung for as long as I can remember but it doesn't happen.

Why would anyone attack Samsung for a non issue

Here's the answer

While the Samsung bad battery caught the webs attention, Im more getting the impression the problem is battery or software related.
" i have two i6s 64GB, i have and with GeekBench one shows 4:25 the other one shows 3:25, same samsung"

That appears a bonafide comment at cultofmac, mimicking similar large differences in battery life for Samsung versus Samsung. Whether one or any of those Samsung chips can actually be Global Foundries chips I'm unsure.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/10...two-apple-a9s/

Interesting data, and an honest admission on the many other factors that might come into it.
The 14nm is certainly showing more power usage under heavier load, and Im not even sure if that would be down to the 16nm throttling the CPU. Andrew did not cover that question.

Theres no mention either of the test running the 14nm any slower to account for its decent extra speed.
An interesting comment also suggested using ice packs to see if one is throttling a lot on some of the tests, throttling a common intelligent question. And if those 16nm are the new Finfet+, maybe that is the answer to the differences in battery under heavier load.

I might as will add that the stuff I read on TSMC suggested their 16nm Finfets were to be on 20nm silicon size, but obviously the Apple A9 is 16nm size, shown by it being only 10% bigger than the 14nm ones.
I'm wondering slightly more if TSMC were only tooled up for producing Finfet+ at short notice, a 20nm size 16nm Finfet Soc being too large for Apple.

So they concluded that the numbers quoted by Apple were correct.

Maybe Ars will have a follow up report as to why the Geekbench CPU test has 28% better battery for TSMC, way above any possible 10% extra processing done by the Samsung one.

In the closer GPU test I, possibly incorrectly assume the Samsung one has done the most work. So on the face of it there, looks like we only have major discrepancy in the CPU, not the GPU part of the SOC.

We won't know until next year, but I'm hearing Samsung won't be a supplier for the next iPhone and this situation was designed to help 'cover' Apple during the transition, and of course the problem now makes it even easier to justify (if justification was needed as Apple doesn't need the support of customers - even if customers will now be 'blaming' Samsung).

It's very odd that people want to defend Apple by saying it's no big deal, when it is clearly a huge deal for Apple and Samsung. Apple will drop Samsung as quick as it can - unless of course Samsung begs for forgiveness and Apple agrees to let them continue but at a much lower cost.

Rather like experts predict Qualcomm will give Samsung an amazing price on Snapdragon 820 and we may well see Samsung one of the first manufacturers to use the chipset, after Samsung famously boycotted Qualcomm over the SD810 thermal issues.

It's amazing to see how things will be playing out in public and behind the scenes.

Maybe I've misunderstood your post. Why do you think this is a huge deal for Apple and Samsung?

OK, seems that both TSMC and Samsung use a 20nm back-end for their chips.
Interestingly Samsung mainly sell their first generation 14nm called LPE, but they seemingly market a lower power higher cost second generation 14nm called LPP.

There was even some speculation back in April that the A9 'might' use lower power LPP.
edit- this said there might be major differences between TSMC and Samsung.
http://www.dailytech.com/TSMC+Hypes+...ticle37298.htm

"A compelling question is why top clients like Apple, Qualcomm, and NVIDIA are picking Samsung over TSMC at the 14/16 nm node, if TSMC's process is truly so technically superior. Something is going wrong with TSMC -- be it cost, capacity, or falling short of its amibitious performance claims. But at the end of the day, whatever lead TSMC has on paper over Samsung is largely moot as clients appear to have some inside insight which convinced them that Samsung was the superior fab partner at this node."

It certainly starts to look like the TSMC lead is major, at least over LPE.

I think he's basing it on rumour plus jumping to conclusions. He says "I'm hearing ....". Now I suspect that if such a major decision has been made it's only known by the executive management team. So either Jon has the ear of mighty high up insiders, or he's going on flimsy rumour. Secondly, he's jumping to the conclusion that even if that happens it is directly connected with the supposed "chipgate" issue. Cause and effect is never that simple in the machinations of big business.

As I said, we'll see with the iPhone 7.

I never said the word 'chipgate' either.

I think in Apple's case it was probably a decision of not putting 100 million + eggs in one basket with a new supplier.

Imagine the carnage if TSMC hadn't come through with the chip on time and in quantity and the launch had to be pushed back?

With TSMC now having shown they are capable of producing a technologically good product that appears to be superior to a similar product of one of he market leaders it's likely Apple will invest in them and use them more for their next product, as people are already saying.

I've no doubt that Apple want less dependency on Samsung. The has been said for about the last 3 years.

I still don't understand what you meant by a huge issue for Apple and Samsung.

How times change. It was only a couple of weeks ago we were being told that Apples only gains in performance were from the Samsung fabrication.

Look what happened to Qualcomm this year. It's like saying everyone is just one pay check away from losing their home.

I am sure Samsung can bounce back but I also reckon Apple how has a major bargaining tool now, especially if it lines up other component suppliers to gradually reduce Samsung's supply to near nil.

But, Samsung isn't going to just give up is it?

I don't need to be a fly on the wall in Cupertino to know this anymore than you do.

There might be some pretty smug looking faces on those on the Cupertino side of any negotiations.

A perfectly rational explanation of why Apple might drop Samsung, rather than one based on emotion and crisis.

Indeed. There are people who can discuss things without it turning into a flame war.

Hence why the hardcore fanboys are so conflicted here. Here's a problem involving two rivals and already people are saying 'chipgate' and other nonsense.

There is a problem for Apple and Samsung, and it will be dealt with. No doubt Apple has had many such issues with component suppliers in the past that we don't even know about, just as any company will have.

Nevertheless, I can see on other forums and social media that a lot of people are now trying to swap their phones (and I suspect some will lie about faults to do so) just as Xperia Z1 owners did (and also lied about faults) and Galaxy owners will have for the 'right' image sensor.

Not that any company is going to reveal the numbers for obvious reasons. And in a while it will be forgotten about by most people.

There is a plus side for manufacturers though. I bet people who get the version they want will take extra care from then on, as they won't want to risk having a replacement.

I have a TSMC 6S+. I just came from a Nexus 6 which has a larger battery and is running the final version of Android Marshmallow. I have to say, it's only my 2nd day with the iPhone so far (100% @ 10am to 30% at 12am) and it's performing just as good if not better than the Nexus in terms of battery. I was using the phone all day as I just got it, I've installed probably over 100 apps, I've played many hours of games, watched about an hour of YouTube, gone through social apps like Facebook/Instagram/Vine/Snapchat/Whatsapp for maybe 2 hours, and generally scrolled through the settings and opened every app I have on the phone to check it out, oh and a couple of phone calls.

To sum it up, it's done better than I expected considering the size of the battery. But my god, it charges SLOWLY when compared to fast charging my Nexus.

I am happy I got the TSMC as I've read it's the better one in terms of battery life. Performance is blazing fast when using the phone and it doesn't seem to warm up at all. The only problem I've noticed is when unlocking the phone, almost every single time, it will lag for the first 3-5 seconds, almost like the A9 chip hasn't fully woken up.