A recent report out of Korea has suggested that in 2018, Samsung could be brought back into the fold by Apple as being one of their suppliers for their 2018 A-series chipsets that will be used in the iPhone 9 (or whatever it will be called). This means that once again it will be both TSMC and Samsung supplying Apple with the chipsets.
However according to a new report from DigiTimes (via MacRumors), that might not necessarily be the case. The report claims that TSMC is still expected to hold the exclusive rights to supply Apple with the 2018 chipsets. Apparently the company’s integrated fan-out wafer-level packaging technology used in its 7nm FinFET chip fabrication process is seen as more “superior” compared to what Samsung can do.
Samsung is said to be aggressively trying to vye for Apple’s business, but there is a chance that despite Samsung’s close ties to OLED production, which Apple could use in the iPhone 8 and future iPhones, it might not be enough to convince Apple to go with them as a chipset manufacturer for 2018’s iOS devices.
However even they were to be chosen, we guess at the end of the day Apple usually tries to even out the experience, meaning that end-users shouldn’t be able to tell if a chipset has come from Samsung or TSMC, but either way take it with a grain of salt for now.