Previewed at WWDC, launching in the fall.
First Photo of Apple's A10 Chip for iPhone 7 Appears With Mid-July Production Date
Less than one month before Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, Chinese repair shop GeekBar has shared the first photo of what appears to be the next-generation A10 chip destined for the smartphones on Weibo. The number of pins appears to be consistent with the A9 chip's 64-bit LPDDR4 interface.
While the photo could easily be faked, the chipset is labeled with a 1628 date code, corresponding with mid-July production. Additionally, GeekBar has accurately leaked components for unreleased Apple products in the past, including the iPhone 6s display assembly and iPhone 6 schematics showing a 128GB storage option.
What is pictured here is not the complete A10 chip and may be the RAM layer that is stacked on top of the A10 wafer as one system-on-a-chip, rather than the processor itself. Apple A-series chips are typically labeled on all four edges, suggesting this chipset is in a mid-production state.
TSMC is expected to be the sole supplier of Apple's faster A10 chip based on its 16nm FinFET WLP process. The new processor should bring performance improvements to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The smartphones are expected to be announced on September 7 and released on September 16.
Last year, TSMC-built A9 chips were found to outperform Samsung-built A9 chips in early iPhone 6s battery benchmarks, but subsequent tests showed less significant impacts that Apple later said amounted to only a 2-3% difference in "real world" battery life. Samsung is not expected to be an A10 chip supplier.
While the photo could easily be faked, the chipset is labeled with a 1628 date code, corresponding with mid-July production. Additionally, GeekBar has accurately leaked components for unreleased Apple products in the past, including the iPhone 6s display assembly and iPhone 6 schematics showing a 128GB storage option.
What is pictured here is not the complete A10 chip and may be the RAM layer that is stacked on top of the A10 wafer as one system-on-a-chip, rather than the processor itself. Apple A-series chips are typically labeled on all four edges, suggesting this chipset is in a mid-production state.
TSMC is expected to be the sole supplier of Apple's faster A10 chip based on its 16nm FinFET WLP process. The new processor should bring performance improvements to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The smartphones are expected to be announced on September 7 and released on September 16.
Last year, TSMC-built A9 chips were found to outperform Samsung-built A9 chips in early iPhone 6s battery benchmarks, but subsequent tests showed less significant impacts that Apple later said amounted to only a 2-3% difference in "real world" battery life. Samsung is not expected to be an A10 chip supplier.
Related Roundup: iPhone 7
Buyer's Guide: iPhone 8 (Caution)
[ 87 comments ]
Top Rated Comments
(View all)
24 months ago
I never understood the value of seeing what the chip looks like. It looks the same as all the other ones except there's a 10 instead of 9.
24 months ago
So basically we've seen everything inside and out. I guess the packaging is next?
The only thing left for the keynote day is Tim's faux-excited excitement of how excited he is for the exciting things ahead.
24 months ago
I never understood the value of seeing what the chip looks like. It looks the same as all the other ones except there's a 10 instead of 9.
I agree. when they start offering the chips in gold, rose gold, etc, then I'll be a little more excited.
24 months ago
Anyway, these pictures aren't that special - the A10 chip will be announced in a couple weeks anyway. But I've got pictures of next year's chips!!!
24 months ago
The only thing left for the keynote day is Tim's faux-excited excitement of how excited he is for the exciting things ahead.
It'll go nicely with the faux-outrage from MR posters saying how boring the iPhone is and this is the last one they ever buy from Apple.
[ Read All Comments ]
Apple has initiated a new worldwide service program offering free repairs of MacBook and MacBook models equipped with low-profile, butterfly mechanism keyboards, after the company determined that...
Reddit has announced the rollout of its customizable News tab feature to most users of its iOS app. After limited alpha testing of the tab over the last few weeks, Reddit says it has acted on...
A USB-based vulnerability that allows for the brute forcing of a passcode on an iOS device has been discovered by security researcher Matthew Hickey, reports ZDNet.
The method, which bypasses...
For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Fuse to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a Side Winder, which is an accessory that's designed to let you quickly and easily wind up...
Alongside a major version 3.0 update that rolled out to its iOS app [Direct Link] earlier this week, Turner Classic Movies has also expanded support for its "Watch TCM" app to tvOS devices....
Nanoleaf's new 12-sided light-up remote joins its existing Nanoleaf Light Panels and Nanoleaf Rhythm, adding a whole slew of smartphone-free physical control options for your HomeKit setup in one...
Apple Maps vehicles equipped with LiDAR sensors have begun collecting street-level data in Japan for the first time this month.
Apple will be surveying the Tokyo and Urayasu areas between...
Microsoft has announced a new visual search feature for its Bing app that lets users snap a picture with their phone's camera and use it to search the web.
The new visual search function...
