Apple has always been known for its high quality products that offer superior performance as well as cutting edge designs over the rivals. But a new controversy erupted a couple of days back when it was reported that apple has actually used 2 different A9 processors for its iPhone 6s and 6s plus.
Apple usually sells about 250 million iPhone in a year and apple procures the same components from different manufacturers. The A9 chip has been manufactured by Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC). Some users who have tested both the variants of iPhone have observed that the battery life on phones using the Samsung made A9 has decreased by 2 hours. But apple denies this claims.
“Our testing and customer data show the actual battery life of the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, even taking into account variable component differences, vary within just 2 to 3 percent of each other,” a company spokesman said in a statement Thursday.
The main culprit seems to be the manufacturing process. Samsung uses the 14nm production line and the TMSC uses the 16 nm one. as result of this, the area of Samsung a9 chip is measured at 96 sq.mm while the TMSC measures at 104.5 sq.mm (the smaller is not better in this case). even though both the chips give the highest priority to performance, the Samsung chip seems to hog more power resulting in a decreased battery life.
The TMSC made A9 chip is 33% more efficient than the Samsung made A9 chip and the internal testing showed that the battery life is indeed different on both models. But the variations are minimal under real world circumstances and user whose main priority is casual web surfing and playing light games should be worried.
The A9 chips have been manufactured by Samsung and TMSC in 40: 60 ratios. The model numbers are N66AP for 6s Plus and N71AP for 6s for an iPhone with Samsung made a9 chip. TSMC ones are N66mAP for 6s Plus and N71mAP for 6s.
