It’s been battle after battle this year for tech giants Apple and Samsung, who have been at each other’s throats during a variety of lawsuits. We have also seen some targeted television ads from Samsung that basically mocked the entire “iPhone” experience, taking a couple strikes at the iPhone 5’s “lack of innovation” and Apple’s community of followers. So it’s no surprise that news today suggests that Apple is possibly ready to end its”chip creation” relationship with Apple and move on with another company.
Sources state that the Cupertino-based firm is more than likely going to move its chip production needs to the Taiwanese company TSMC, which will begin crafting chips for Apple at a rating of 20 nanometers. However, this won’t be an immediate switch, and analysts suggest that Apple will begin ramping down Samsung’s production while simultaneously rising production rates with TSMC.
This means that some future Apple products could possibly contain different chips from either company. Apple actually did a similar thing with its popular iPad 2 device, with some of the later models containing different chips than the release models. Apple never really states when it changes chips in its devices, so it’s a tossup on which processor your device will actually have.
Gus Richard, a chip analyst at Piper Jaffray, stated the following concerning Apple’s latest shift;
“Apple is working with TSMC at 20 nanometers. TSMC has allocated a disproportionate amount of resources to Apple. And has pushed out other [TSMC customers] in the process.”
Sources suggest that Apple consumes more processor production needs than any other single consumer device creator in the world. This means that a contract with Apple is potentially a huge revenue boost, and likewise for Samsung, a huge revenue loss.
So why exactly is Apple dropping the chip developer? Some suggest it’s because TSMC is offering the tech giant more bang for their buck, but a source that contacted CNET recently states that its due to the rapidly deteriorating relationship between Apple and Samsung. Regardless of the reason, this new shakeup could cause some new waves in the heated rivalry between the two consumer tech developers. It’s safe to say this probably isn’t the last “Samsung Versus Apple” news we will see.
Photo Source: TSMC
