Having a supposed release date for the end of this year, the terminal iPhone 6 should be the first to implement the future face A8 which Apple is currently developing. To be sure that it has enough of many components available in good time, those from Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), would have already signed production contracts with 3 companies, Amkor Technology, STATS ChipPAC and Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE), to produce 60% of the total number of chips that will be included in iPhone 6.
Amkor Technology and STATS ChipPAC have each obtained 40% of the total packaging orders placed by Apple for its next-generation A8 processor, with the remaining 20% to be taken over by Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE), according to industry sources. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which is believed to have landed foundry orders for Apple's next-generation A8 chip, has also secured wafer bumping orders for the processor as part of its turnkey solution, the sources indicated.
Apart from these, the Apple company would also have made contacts with Samsung or TSMC for the manufacture of the future A8 chip, these two companies going to manufacture the remaining 40% of the orders, Samsung going to have the smallest part of them. Apple's A8 chip would be produced using a 20nm manufacturing process, allowing for a reduction in its dimensions, but at the same time allowing for an efficiency of energy consumption and an improvement in performance.
