What could be a half-produced A10 chip intended for the iPhone 7 appears in a new photo leaked on the Chinese microblogging site Weibo. The pictured chip very plausibly could be authentic…
One big reason is that, according to MacRumors, the photo was shared by the Chinese repair shop GeekBar, which has often posted photos of genuine components for future Apple products, relying on the Cupertino company’s supply chain in the People’s Republic of China.
First Photo of Apple’s A10 Chip for iPhone 7 Appears With Mid-July Production Date https://t.co/sxZLVv4G4L by @rsgnl pic.twitter.com/dAbFSABTYE
— MacRumors.com (@MacRumors) August 10, 2016
Also worth taking into account is the observation, made by MacRumors, that the pictured chip’s number of pins seems consistent with the A9 processor’s 64-bit LPDDR4 interface. MacRumors adds that Apple’s A-series chips tend to be labelled on all edges, so the chip pictured here could be only half-finished.
Previous reports hint that Taiwan firm TSMC is solely responsible for making A10 chips for the iPhone 7, Apple having turned its back on Samsung due to dissatisfaction with the A9 chips manufactured by that company.