Apple A9 CPU to be made by Samsung Again

Are Apple and Samsung friends again? Samsung has reportedly won the bid to make the new A9 CPU for the next iPhone.

The next iPhone, likely called iPhone 6S or maybe iPhone 7, will run on the next generation Apple CPU A9. During the intense patent battle between Samsung and Apple, the Cupertino based iPhone maker has aimed to remove Samsung from its supply chain as much as possible. The current Apple CPU is for instance made by TSMC.

Now Bloomberg cites sources in a new report saying that Samsung has won again the Apple CPU manufacturing deal. Samsung is supposed to produce the A9 at the Giheung plant in South Korea. Additional CPU orders will go to Samsung’s partner Globalfoundries.

Samsung needs this deal to compensate losses in other business units. The company heavily invested in new semiconductor technology, which is their biggest strength. Apple is a huge customer that spends billions on semiconductor components for its iDevices.

Apple will launch the Apple Watch this month, but the Apple rumor mill is already focusing on the next iPhone expected this Fall. It would be typical if Apple is releasing an iPhone 6S with minor enhancements, but there are new rumors that suggest that Apple might be doing a bigger leap with the next iPhone.

The source of the rumor is a financial analyst with a good Apple rumor track record. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said according to MacRumors in a note to his clients that Apple will introduce Force Touch in the next iPhone. The iPhone Force Touch he says will though be different from the Apple Watch and 12-inch MacBook. Instead of measuring pressure the sensor would measure the size of the contact area of the fingers to determine the force. used.

Kuo adds that the introduction of Force Touch might be significant enough that Apple will call their new smartphone iPhone 7. 

We don’t agree unless Apple is changing an additional thing. One new feature is not making Apple to skip the S as we have seen in the introducing of the Touch ID sensor.