Report: Apple To Switch From Samsung to TSMC For ARM CPU Production

another random user writes "Apple is planning to shift production of its ARM-based microprocessors from Samsung to the Taiwanese chip-baking giant TSMC as early as next year, according to a report by the China Economic News Service (CENS). The report cites CitiGroup Global Markets analyst J.T. Hsu as saying that TSMC will be Apple's sole supplier of 20nm quad-core processors, with volume production to begin in the fourth quarter of 2013. He also noted that Apple began its 20nm chip-verfication process at TSMC in August of this year. Hsu told CENS that the future quad-core chips were intended for Apple's 'iPad, iTV and even Macbook,' turning up the heat on two rumors that have been simmering for months: that Apple is planning a move into the television market, and that an ARM-based MacBook is in the works."

Mac Pro

[Jerry Smith]

Dammit Apple, how about doing something on your other lines?? Mobility is nice but desktop needs improvement! Big improvement!

Re:Well if they want ...

[UnknowingFool]

This is not a new reaction. It was confirmed last year that TSMC would be making Apple A5 chips in addition to Samsung. From a logistical standpoint does it make sense for Apple to have only one supplier of a critical component? Also 20nm is another reason to use TSMC. Samsung won't move to this size until later from what I remember.

Re:Well if they want ...

[Anonymous Coward]

So what makes you morally obliged to support an OS created by the world's biggest enemy of privacy solely for the purpose to hurt its competitors?

You mean it has no other merits at all, that's why 60% of smartphones are Android and they're keep improving it just "to hurt its competitors"?

This whole post is so ridiculous it doesn't even merit refuting it point by point.

P.S: "(Score:5, Insightful)", LOL. Nice troll! I'll bookmark this shit for the next time some butthurt appleite mentions "pro-Google /. groupthink"

Re:Cheaper Alternatives

[ikaruga]

Doubt it. The first reason AppleTVs are not popular is because home consoles even though they cost way more. The PS3 and Xbox360 can do everything the AppleTV do and much more(Bluray and DVD, real games, more digital content etc, better media streaming tools, better control interfaces and recording capabilities). The only thing I know more complete than a PS3 to hook up to a home theater setup is a custom made HTPC.
The other reason is the bad marketing. Apple success is marketing and when they find a way to distort the reality around the appleTV, it will fly off the shelves.

Re:Well if they want ...

[TummyX]

How many people *ACTUALLY* need to run custom code tho? It keeps the iPhone mostly free of viruses or crash prone apps and the target audience for iPhone is customers not DIY hackers.

Android is so open but yet the Jelly Bean installation base is only 1.5% after 3 months. There's a difference between "theoretically open" and actual real world practise.

If you really want to run your own code for whatever reason (custom robot?) you can either Jailbreak or just get an enterprise license from Apple then you can run any code you want.

ARM laptop

[JanneM]

Actually, I could imagine having a 64-bit ARM Ubuntu laptop. Something fairly light-weight and long battery life, but with a number of cores (most CPU intensive stuff I actually do on my laptop is very parallelisable), plenty of memory and a largish SSD.

Re:Well if they want ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you trolling or you really are that stupid?

The iSheep/Fandroid wars aren't that fucking simple. Primarily, because there's no such thing as a "fandroid".

The part iSheep don't get is that they are irrational and total brand loyalty to anything and everything Apple shits out, to the extent of defending to the death bad products.

So-called 'fandroids' on the other hand, would switch from Android to Symbian, BB10, whatever (I can't be bothered listing other smartphone OS's) *tomorrow* if (by some miracle) it was BETTER than Android, and they'd ditch their Samsung for whatever, if they felt like it.

So you see, you will always be iSheep and an easy target.

Meanwhile, calling us 'fandroid' and 'shamstung' is like water off a duck's back to us - in fact calling us that only goes to highlight just how utterly and completely you iDrones don't get it.

The 'war' isn't so much about a hatred of Apple, as it is a sport targetting Appletards for amusement.

This won't save them from Samsung/Android.

[csumpi]

My wife just swapped her phone for a Samsung Galaxy S3. In a long time (probably since the iPhone1) I'm jealous and want one, too. The S3 looks fantastic and works great. The interface is awesome, there's no need to root it like with older Android phones.

The patent trolling from Apple also made Google/Samsung to invent. One example is screen unlock. On the S3 you can swipe the screen anywhere and even launch apps (like email or camera) directly from the unlock screen. Better user experience with more functionality.

In the meantime Apple had to do some catching up and they made the screen larger on the iPhone5. But instead of making the screen larger in both directions, they opted to change the aspect ratio, so now ios developers have to support yet another screen layout (at least pre-iphone5, iphone5 and ipad for a universal app). On the other hand, Android was designed from the beginning to support multiple aspect ratios, so one layout can handle it all (and no, this is not a cause of fragmentation, it's a solution to it).

Then Apple tried to stick it to Google with dropping maps. We all know how that turned out.

The solution is simple: Apple should stop with the patent trolling. It is biting them in the rear. Android is here to stay. They should go back to inventing and competing, otherwise they will be out-invented and out-competed. I know they are making money hand over fist, but just take a look at their stock price since iphone5 release.