According to the rumors from last year, TSMC could be getting an exclusive contract to manufacture Apple’s A10 chipset for this year’s iPhone. The rumors have persisted and earlier this year, it was “confirmed” that TSMC would be the exclusive manufacturer for the A10 chipset, and now new rumors have indicated TSMC’s exclusivity could extend beyond the A10.
A report from DigiTmes has revealed that not only will TSMC get the exclusive on the A10, but they could be getting the exclusive to the A11 chipset as well, which assuming Apple keeps to tradition will most likely find its way to 2017’s iPhones and iPads. This is a huge deal because if it is true, Apple would be effectively cutting Samsung out for at least 2 years as far as their chipsets are concerned.
So what does this mean for consumers? Chances are it won’t affect you either way, although last year there was a bit of a fuss kicked up over the difference in battery life between the TSMC-made A9s and the Samsung-made A9s, although the difference was largely in theory and was not big enough to really impact real-world usage.
In any case take it with a grain of salt for now, but it isn’t a secret that following the lawsuit between Apple and Samsung that the former has been trying to figure out ways to not make themselves so reliant on the latter company for components.