A second-generation iPad Pro model with a screen measuring 9.7 inches diagonally could launch as early as next week, according to a new report Wednesday by reliable Japanese blog Mac Otakara. The publication’s sources describe the forthcoming device as a modest upgrade over the current 9.7-inch iPad Pro, which released in March 2016 following the September 2015 introduction of the original 12.9-inch iPad Pro model.
Chip manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) today posted record profits and its shares have climbed to their highest level on record as strong demand for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus fuels orders for the handsets’ in-housed designed A10 Fusion processor. That TSMC is the sole supplier of the A10 has no doubt helped it capture record profits amid a global slowdown in the smartphone market.
Following iFixit’s analysis of the components and internal layout changes in the iPhone 7 Plus, semiconductor experts over at Chipworks and TechInsights have performed a joint in-depth analysis of the chips in the 128GB iPhone 7 model “A1778” to identify the key integrated circuits at play.
The Apple-designed A10 Fusion chip is “incredibly thin,” Chipworks has discovered, thanks to TSMC’s InFO packaging technique resulting in a thinner package. Perhaps more interesting than that, the AT&T and T-Mobile edition of the handset indeed comes with Intel’s LTE modem inside versus Qualcomm’s that powers cellular connectivity in other hardware versions of the device.
Alleged GeekBench CPU scores posted back in the summer suggested modest performance gains for the iPhone 7’s A10 chip versus the iPad Pro’s A9X processor, but were debunked as fake soon after.
Today, genuine-looking results of the GeekBench 4 synthetic benchmark of the iPhone 7’s CPU were posted on the website of PrimateLabs, the company that makes and sells the GeekBench suite.
According to the published data, the iPhone 7 could have its CPU performance boosted by at least one third, or about 33 percent, versus the iPhone 6s.
Alleged specifications of Apple’s iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus refresh were leaked this morning on the Chinese social network Weibo by an unknown source. The document appears to detail several technical aspects of the forthcoming devices, including display resolutions, next-generation cameras, chips, batteries and other features.
Both in-house designed ‘A10’ and ‘A11’ chips for this year’s iPhone 7 and 2017 iPhones/iPads, respectively, are believed to be manufactured solely by Taiwan’s semiconductor foundry TSMC (sorry, Samsung).
According to Nikkei Asian Review, Intel is now perfectly poised to give TSMC a good run for its money in as little as two years because any Apple chips after the A10/A11 should be fabricated by Intel.
The recently signed licensing deal between Intel and UK-based ARM Holdings lets the former fabricate chips for smartphones based on the latter’s CPU technology.
We may have just been treated to our first glimpse of Apple’s next-generation A10 system-on-a-chip that should power the forthcoming iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus devices.
Leaked on the web through a Weibo account that belongs to Chinese repair shop GeekBar, which in the past provided genuine components for unreleased Apple products, the chip’s label suggests it was manufactured in mid-July.
What’s more, the package has the same number of pins as its predecessor, potentially alluding that it could sport the same 64-bit LPDDR4 interface like the current A9 chip.
Early Geekbench 3 benchmark of the Apple-designed A10 system-on-a-chip—which will be the next iPhone and iPad’s engine—was posted Thursday by Dutch blog TechTastic.nl. Purported scores suggest the device may not be much speedier than the iPhone 6s and iPad Pro. The upcoming chip scored a tad more than last year’s A9 powering the iPhone 6s series and a little bit faster than the A9X in the iPad Pro.
On the other hand, the benchmarked A10 is almost certainly a prototype unit so final scores should be higher than is currently the case.
Citing market forecasts quoted by the Commercial Times newspaper, Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes reported Monday that shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) could hit record levels thanks to orders for the Apple-designed ‘A10’ system-on-a-chip, the engine that will drive the next iPhone and iPad. TSMC just posted strong numbers for the second financial quarter.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s top semiconductor foundry which Apple has commissioned to build ‘A10’ processors for the next iPhone alongside Samsung, is expected to grow its revenue substantially in the third quarter of this year thanks to these orders.
Taiwan’s Central News Agency, quoted by trade publication DigiTimes, said this morning that TSMC is reportedly forecast to grow revenues almost twenty percent sequentially in its third quarter “as shipments for Apple’s A10 processors will kick off soon”.
A new report late Wednesday claims that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company will be the exclusive supplier of mobile processors for Apple’s next generation iPhone. The news comes from South Korea’s Electronic Times, via Reuters, who cites unnamed sources within the industry.
ET says that TSMC beat out rival, and long-time Apple chip-maker, Samsung for the job thanks to its ability to scale its 10-nanometer process. Their report lines up with previous analyst predictions, who felt TSMC would take 100% of Apple’s next-gen chip orders thanks to its InFO chip tech.
Although the present-generation A9 and A9X processors are being built by both Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) and Samsung, it appears that Samsung will be left out entirely from the lucrative contract to build the forthcoming A10 chipset for 2016 iOS devices.
Barron’s on Thursday cited analyst Bonil Koo with investment bank UBS as saying that all A10 orders will be exclusively handled by TSMC, posing a major problem for Samsung.
