News - Apple looks set to choose TSMC over Samsung for A7 chips

[HEXUS]

Its reliance upon the South Korean tech giant is to be almost completely severed.

Read more.

[Phaz0r18]

With all the Apple vs Samsung debacles happening left, right and center this really doesn't surprise me...

[Roobubba]

Surprise surprise!

I still won't be buying any Apple products

[kalniel]

The 20nm process offered by TSMC, as well as chip design refinements, should bring a combination of better speed and efficiency to Apple next generation of mobile devices.

I think Samsung are already at 20nm, while TSMC have yet to get there, so it's a bit misleading to suggest process size improvements are a reason to go to TSMC

Apple moving stuff to TSMC was rumoured for a while - it's bad news for AMD and nVidia as they'll have less say on things.

[Phaz0r18]

Apple moving stuff to TSMC was rumoured for a while - it's bad news for AMD and nVidia as they'll have less say on things.

This.

I still won't be buying any Apple products

And this.

Although, I do wonder how this will affect build quality of the iPhone, its one of the only good things they've got going for them...

[Roobubba]

Apart from all the broken iPhones from dropping, you mean? Or have they fixed up their terrible record on screens breaking now?

[Phaz0r18]

Apart from all the broken iPhones from dropping, you mean? Or have they fixed up their terrible record on screens breaking now?

Screen damage is really the fault of Gorrilla Glass, not the iPhone itself, besides that they're really well built, dropping the phone might smash the screen but how many people have you seen using iPhones a year or two down the line with cracked screens ?

[cameronlite]

Screen damage is really the fault of Gorrilla Glass, not the iPhone itself, besides that they're really well built, dropping the phone might smash the screen but how many people have you seen using iPhones a year or two down the line with cracked screens ?

iPhones are NOT well built

[Phaz0r18]

iPhones are NOT well built

Maybe not, but considering some of the competition HTC have only just began to use Aluminium unibody designs, Samsung still use plastic which sometime feels pretty tacky, especially on a £+++ flagship phone. The iPhone definitely feels like a premium phone in your hand with its glass and metal construction, that can't be said for all phones...

[Biscuit]

Screen damage is really the fault of Gorrilla Glass, not the iPhone itself, besides that they're really well built, dropping the phone might smash the screen but how many people have you seen using iPhones a year or two down the line with cracked screens ?

Its not a fault of the glass, its because the glass is put right to the edge of the screen so it takes the full force of any impact. Doesnt matter how strong glass is, its still glass and it will still crack. This is the definition of form over function.

Maybe not, but considering some of the competition HTC have only just began to use Aluminium unibody designs, Samsung still use plastic which sometime feels pretty tacky, especially on a £+++ flagship phone. The iPhone definitely feels like a premium phone in your hand with its glass and metal construction, that can't be said for all phones...

I think you will find HTC have done unibody aluminium phones quite a few times before, have a look at the Desire S?

Personally i don't rate something as premium based on something as vague as how it feels. I base it on IF ITS ACTUALLY WELL MADE AND WELL SPECIFIED.
I am getting fed up of pointing this out but; polymer materials should actually be more rugged, less wasteful in manufacturing, cheaper to manufacture and lighter than aluminium. Aluminium is not categorically the best material to use and this halo of quality based on it needs to die.

Much to my annoyance, after owning it for a year, earlier today I dropped my one x. Im not talking a feeble little flop onto carpet, i launched it out of my car whilst i was taking it out the holder (slippy hands). It landed on one corner and then bounced onto another corner. This would have almost certainly cracked an iPhone screen but the polymer unibody One X has just got some nastly scratches/dents.

[Phaz0r18]

Its not a fault of the glass, its because the glass is put right to the edge of the screen so it takes the full force of any impact. Doesn't matter how strong glass is, its still glass and it will still crack.

True, but isn't the current trend heading towards bezel-less and edge-to-edge display's ? You can't fault the company for giving the people what they want and also blame them for user incompetence. Like you said, glass is glass, it will always shatter, regardless of what phone it's in...

I think you will find HTC have done unibody aluminium phones quite a few times before, have a look at the Desire S?

Personally i dont rate something as premium based on something as vague as how it feels. I base it on IF ITS ACTUALLY WELL MADE AND WELL SPECIFIED.

True, they've done it a few times before but never really listened to feedback and jumped back to plastic to save on some handsets.

And you might not but a lot of people put value on how good a product feels to hold considering its a handheld device. What parts of an iPhone don't feel solid and well built ?

And the current specs of the iPhone 5 are still relatively high-end, maybe the original or 3GS had some catching up to do but they've come along in leaps and bounds...

BTW: I am NOT a fan of Crapple at all and currently own a HTC and will be getting the S4 when it comes out but I still appreciate a well made device.

[Biscuit]

True, but isn't the current trend heading towards bezel-less and edge-to-edge display's ? You can't fault the company for giving the people what they want and also blame them for user incompetence. Like you said, glass is glass, it will always shatter, regardless of what phone it's in...

But wouldn't it be possible to create a phone that looks good and is also resilient to drops and bounces? Its like there has been an imaginary line drawn where good looking phones have to also be extremely fragile and its just crap.

True, they've done it a few times before but never really listened to feedback and jumped back to plastic to save on some handsets.

So they switched back to plastic because they didn't listen to feedback? Review feedback of the One X was quite positive on the material they used and the lower end phones have either used aluminum (One S, One V) or they are actually just a cheaper phone so use cheaper manufacturing processes.
I'm not sure your theory holds up.

See my edit above... plastic is better anyway.

And you might not but a lot of people put value on how good a product feels to hold considering its a handheld device. What parts of an iPhone don't feel solid and well built ?

We need to draw the line between the lame vagueness of feel and the actual science of ergonomics. If im going to be completely honest, i don't like the shape of iPhones with the sharp edges, they were nicer to hold before the 4. Erganomics wise, there is very little to the iPhone to make it stand out. Im waiting for someone to give me a better reason than, 'but look at it' or 'just hold it for a minute'. Because all i do is point out its a bit heavier/sharper... does nothing for me.

And the current specs of the iPhone 5 are still relatively high-end, maybe the original or 3GS had some catching up to do but they've come along in leaps and bounds...

Leaps and bounds is pushing it a bit, but yeah it still a fairly high specced phone.

[watercooled]

I agree I don't get where the aluminium=well made thing comes from? Or is it just a case of, Apple do it so it must be good?

Aluminium and glass can add some structural rigidity and make something feel more solid, but in reality, solid stuff tends to react worse to impacts. Aluminium deforms (often permanently) and passes impact energy to the brittle glass. Blaming Gorilla glass isn't fair - it's designed to be very hard to resist scratching and absorb some amount of impact, but it's also somewhat brittle. People say diamonds are indestructible because of their hardness, but try hitting one with a hammer. Plastics on the other hand tend to have some elasticity i.e. they will absorb impacts by temporarily deforming but returning to their original shape with minimal damage. It's a trade-off between hardness, fragility and weight/bulk. Pick two. Unfortunately, a lot of designs pick form over function to win the shiny vote.

And I'm not just being anti-Apple here, I think I'd be more comfortable if my Nexus 4 had some sort of polymer shell rather than the mostly glass body. Also, there's more than one type of plastic, and plastic does not imply cheap.

Back to the original subject, markets tend to be self-balancing so I wouldn't be too concerned about it. As the article mentions, Nvidia might be considering shifting some production to Samsung, and it might turn out positive considering how much they complain about poor yields they get from TSMC. AMD could also potentially move some stuff to GloFo, who actually seem ahead of TSMC on the 2xnm node according to some places.

[kingpotnoodle]

A Samsung spokesman had this to say (I imagine):

"Boohoo, to be honest they've done us a favour, now we have plenty of fab capacity for making Exynos to go in our better selling Galaxy phones, no more supply issues."

Edit: Probably also get better yields when you don't need to include magical functions.

[Biscuit]

Back to the original subject, markets tend to be self-balancing so I wouldn't be too concerned about it. As the article mentions, Nvidia might be considering shifting some production to Samsung, and it might turn out positive considering how much they complain about poor yields they get from TSMC. AMD could also potentially move some stuff to GloFo, who actually seem ahead of TSMC on the 2xnm node according to some places.

I wonder if there is a reason AMD havent approached Samsung, or if they have but Samsung have turned them down?

[watercooled]

Maybe they have? I can't see Samsung turning them down unless they had capacity issues, considering they're prepared to work with Apple and Nvidia who have more directly competitive products and the fab trouble Nvidia have apparently had at TSMC. If not, maybe they'd be more willing to move to GloFo if they had to move from TSMC?