Samsung will once again produce the processors that Apple uses in terminals iPhone, those from Cupertino giving up on Koreans more than a year ago. Samsung manufactured the vast majority of A-series chips, which include iPhone processors, until 2013, but things have changed since then, with TSMC being preferred, even exclusively since 2016.
Samsung would have recently bought last generation production machines to be able to fulfill the requirements of the Apple company and manufacture future A12 7nm chips. We are talking about a very advanced manufacturing process that Samsung wants to use, the current A10 chips being produced using a 16nm manufacturing process, in the iPhone 8 an A11 chip produced using a 10nm manufacturing process will be integrated.
Samsung sent one of its three presidents of the group to the Apple company last month, and he would have managed to convince the Americans to contract the company again to manufacture processors. It seems that the current contract for the purchase of OLED screens for the iPhone 8 would also have been used by Samsung to convince Apple managers to accept the proposal.
Samsung Will Produce iPhone Processors Again
Samsung will not exclusively produce the future processors for the iPhone using a 7nm manufacturing process, those from TSMC will also have a part of the production. Samsung must first prove that it is capable of fulfilling the promises that its president made to Apple, so for now nothing is 100% certain, it depends on the Koreans.
Samsung wants to soon complete the tests for the new machines that will produce the processors for the iPhone starting in 2018, and Apple will have to give its consent for the demo units sent. Samsung earns billions upon billions of dollars from contracts with Apple before TSMC exclusively takes over the production of iPhone processors, but times are changing and Apple doesn't seem to want to be too dependent on a single manufacturer.
"According to news reports on July 18, Samsung recently purchased extreme ultra violet lithography machines, the most advanced chip manufacturing equipment, to produce seven-nanometer mobile processors solely for iPhone. Kwon Oh-hyun, one of Samsung's three co-CEOs who oversees chip and other parts businesses, played a key role in clinching the deal during his visit to Apple's headquarters last month."
Samsung had some problems with the production of the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus processors, these having a lower autonomy than those of TSMC, and then Apple decided to abandon the Koreans. Now, it seems that it is willing to give Samsung another chance, so starting in 2018 it will buy iPhone processors from it again, but only if they are good enough.
Samsung is one of the largest chip manufacturers on the planet, recently surpassing Intel.
