Apple Inc. Supplier TSMC Starts Production Of A11 Chip For iPhone 8

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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) has started production of the A11 SoC for Apple, according to DigiTimes. The A11 is expected to feature in the redesigned OLED iPhone 8 that is slated to come out later this year.

TSMC commences production of A11 processor

TSMC is the sole supplier of A11 chips. The Taiwan-based supplier originally aimed to begin production of the chip in April with a view to make 50 million units by July; however, production got delayed due to problems with the 10-nanometer FinFET manufacturing process. According to DigiTimes, those problems have now been resolved.

“Production was once affected by issues involving stacking components in the backend integrated fan-out packaging process, but they have already been solved,” said DigiTimes.

TSMC was also the sole supplier of the A10 chip for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.

Apple designed the A11 layout to its proprietary custom specifications and is depending on a third party to fabricate the components. When it comes to performance, most of the benchmarks show that Apple’s custom CPU designs are the best in the smartphone industry, notes 9to5mac.

In recent weeks, yield issues for the iPhone 8 have been reported widely, notes 9to5mac. On Tuesday, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested that the issues in production could lead to a “severe” shortage of Apple’s upcoming “tenth anniversary” OLED iPhone. The KGI analyst claimed that mass production of the iPhone 8 may not begin until October or worse, November.

However, nothing can be said for surety as there are several reports claiming that production is on schedule. Twitter user @OnLeaks claims that the upcoming iPhone is on track for a September launch.

What to expect with the Apple iPhone 8

DigiTimes also claims that A11 chips could make its way into the upgraded S cycle models of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus and possibly the upcoming iPad this year as well. Apple is also expected to debut a new 10.5-inch iPad Pro and a new 12.9-inch iPad Pro later this year. These iPads could also come with Apple’s A11 chip.

Apart from the A11 chip, all three rumored iPhone models may include wireless charging and glass bodies as well. We are not certain if the two LCD models will feature the same edge-to-edge display as is expected for the higher-end device. It is also unclear what other features will be included in the models.

There are rumors that the tech giant is picking an OLED display (with TrueTone capabilities now). The company is also reportedly removing the physical button from the front screen to extend the screen to the edges. In addition, there are rumors that the iPhone maker could move away from the 16:9 display ratio.

Further, the iPhone could come with a TouchID sensor on the back, including a vertical dual-lens camera setup with augmented reality (AR) features as well. Reports also indicate that Apple’s tenth anniversary iPhone will pack 3GB of RAM (like the iPhone 7 Plus).

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