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iPhone 7 Processor to Be Manufactured Solely by TSMC [Updated]

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has reached a deal with Apple to be the only manufacturer for the iPhone 7's processor, likely called the A10, reports (http://www.etnews.com/20160205000058) The Electronic Times [Google Translate (https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.etnews.com%2F20160205000058)]. TSMC won over Apple largely because of its 10-nanometer manufacturing process. The chip will reportedly go into full production in June.





While TSMC's 10-nanometer process is one reason the company was awarded with a deal over rival Samsung, another likely has to do with the company's more advanced device packaging (http://www.macrumors.com/2015/11/06/tsmc-a10-production-info-wlp/) techniques, which allow for better power performance and efficiency. However, at its conference call last month, TSMC said (http://www.extremetech.com/computing/221532-tsmc-will-begin-10nm-production-this-year-claims-5nm-by-2020) that it was hoping to ramp up 10nm production in 2017, with a slow start to production coming in the second half of 2016.





<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-486661" src="http://cdn.macrumors.com/article-new/2016/02/iphone_7_render_mr.jpg" alt="iphone_7_render_mr" width="800" height="460" /><center>Mockup of iPhone 7 case showing flush rear camera and no antenna bands across rear</center>


Apple used both Samsung and TSMC to manufacture the chips for the iPhone 6s, which caused some controversy as early benchmarks indicated (http://www.macrumors.com/2015/10/07/tsmc-samsung-a9-battery-tests/) that TSMC's A9 chip outperformed Samsung's in battery life. Apple revealed (http://www.macrumors.com/2015/10/08/apple-a9-chip-2-3-percent-difference/) that, according to its internal testing, the variance in performance was only 2 to 3 percent.





The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are expected to debut in September, and new details about the devices have been steadily dripping out. Last week, MacRumors shared (http://www.macrumors.com/2016/02/02/iphone-7-flush-camera-no-bands/) some details on the phone's design, including that it would have a flush rear camera and a lack of antenna bands on its back. Other rumors indicate that the 7 Plus may feature a dual-lens (http://www.macrumors.com/2016/02/03/sony-dual-camera-major-smartphone-players/) camera system and that it may be waterproof (http://www.macrumors.com/2015/09/28/iphone-7-already-rumored-to-be-waterproof/) and not have (http://www.macrumors.com/2015/11/27/iphone-7-no-3-5mm-headphone-jack-lightning/) a headphone jack.





<strong>Update:</strong> This article has been updated with information from TSMC's recent conference call, in which they stated that they hoped 10-nanometer production would ramp up in 2017 after getting a slow start in the second half of 2016.

<div class="linkback">Related Roundup: iPhone 7 (http://www.macrumors.com/roundup/iphone-7/)
Tags: TSMC (http://www.macrumors.com/roundup/tsmc/), A10 (http://www.macrumors.com/roundup/a10/) </div>
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Source: iPhone 7 Processor to Be Manufactured Solely by TSMC [Updated] (http://www.macrumors.com/2016/02/10/tsmc-sole-manufacturer-iphone-7/)