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Apple’s A7 chip again made by Samsung, camera by Sony and non-descript ‘M7’ chip by NXP

Images via Chipworks

Back in July, Mark reported that some code in iOS 7 showed that the 64-bit A7 would be made by Samsung.  If that weren’t enough, Anandtech reported that they also believe that Samsung made the A7 last week after their iPhone review.

The evidence was pretty strong but we now have what appears to be definitive evidence from iFixit/Chipworks.

There was mighty speculation among the internet as to the manufacturer of Apple’s new A7 processor. We uncovered it last night during the iPhone 5s teardown, but now Chipworks has taken it one step further. Through the magic of decapping an IC, their internal shots revealed the A7 to be made by Samsung. Die photos of the A7 are coming.

Chipworks goes further and identifies what Apple calls the M7. It actually is a non-descript chip called the LPC18A1 made by a company called NXP. That’s marketing!

Finally, Sony looks like it has another win on its hands with the improved 15% bigger pixel camera sensor, a feat it has had since it first got the iPhone 4S camera contract two years ago.

Comically, after every new product launch, we get headlines like: ‘After its disastrous Exynos 5 Octa, Samsung may have lost Apple’s A7 contract to TSMC’. Maybe one day we’ll learn to ignore them.

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Comments

  1. Jerry Pon (@jerryponmac) - 11 years ago

    So the question here is, what is TSMC working on?

  2. Jim Roxton - 11 years ago

    I can’t wait until Apple can stop relying on Samsung to make their chips, which Apple designs in-house. Maybe Apple, with it’s mountain of money, should just build or buy it’s own chip maker and screen maker?

    • Jim Phong - 11 years ago

      Apple has a lot of money but becoming a chip maker with the technolgy IBM, Intel and partially Samsung got costs as much as all the money Apple managed to save so far.
      Apple should have moved to Intel or IBM .. probably IBM would be the better choice ..just like Sony had IBM manufacture and co-design the Cell CPU for the PS3.
      IBM has the technology and can manufacture the volumes Apple needs.
      If Apple moved to IBM to build the SoCs then Samsung would go bankrupt.

      • Dustin Johnson (@dustymj) - 11 years ago

        Remember back in the 80’s when Apple’s objective was to wipe IBM off the face of the planet?

      • Adnan K - 10 years ago

        You have to be idiot if you believe Samsung would go bankrupt if they stop selling chips to Apple. Samsung has been around long before Steve Jobs was born. They make military equipments, chemicals, all kinds of electronic gadgets and displays, hard drives, ssds, washing machines, refrigerators. They built the tallest building in the world today (Burj Khalifa in Dubai).

        Wake up idiots. Samsung isn’t going anywhere, regardless if Apple exists or not.

      • Dimitri Kyriakis - 10 years ago

        Samsung would not go backrupt as they have plenty of others using their chips / products. Remember, Apple only makes iPods / iPads / laptops / macs & iPhones VS Samsung which makes TVs / Washers & Dryers / Laptops / Desktops / Speakers / Fridges & Freezers / tablets / has its own chips & screens & more. So saying SAMSUNG means the whole company.

        You most likely meant Samsung mobility.

  3. jameskatt - 11 years ago

    It must be humiliating for Samsung to make the 64-bit A7 for Apple realizing they could not copy this since Android won’t go 64-bit for 1 to 2 years if ever. The 2 core A7 simply goes faster than the 4-core 32-bit higher frequency Android chips.

    • Thats not true. Android goes 64 bit with kitkat. Android cannot go 64 bit is just a myth by the media, just like many myths like Apple is doomed :)

      • why apple will makes its A7 chip by some one else ,who is enemy of the company(Samsung),Its just a false news

      • Dimitri Kyriakis - 10 years ago

        @trendigton

        Just because they fight in court, does not mean Apple ( Tim Cook) will stop using Samsung for their chips. If they would have done that, it would have happened1-3 years ago. There is a contract in place which if Apple stops using Samsung chips, Apple has to pay out the whole contract.

    • Darryl Bass - 10 years ago

      why is it humiliating for Samsung., apple did NOT invent the 64bit processor and had absolutely nothing to do with its design. they’ve licensed the technology as will other manufacturers.

      I would think its humiliating when you sue your biggest competitor because you cant come up with anything new, then announce to the world with each new product that you’re dumping Samsung only to come crawling back because you CAN NOT build your products without them.

      not to mention all the freebies (SEPs) that make it possible for apple to even make a phone.

      • Gregory Fonkatz - 10 years ago

        You obviously don’t know what you’re talking about.
        Of course Apple didn’t invent the the 64 bit architecture. They licensed it from ARM. Just like Samsung do. The difference is that Samsung licenses the cores and Apple licenses the architecture. Samsung just take a ready core designed by ARM and integrate it into the SoC, while Apple design the core in house. So no, they didn’t license it the way Samsung or NVIDIA did. And yes, Apple do have a lot to be proud of. They not only have ARMv8 core way ahead of a competition, not only rewrote the OS, drivers and developer tools to support it, they already have millions of people using it. How far are Samsung form that? “Lack of innovation my ass” as someone said…
        I do think that this is humiliating to Samsung, the SoC they produce for Apple eats their own Exynos SoC for breakfast. While Samsung continue with silly marketing gimmicks like 8 cores and higher frequency, Apple have two cores that beat them in benchmarks.
        But you are right, no one can build a complicated electronic device today without using Samsung parts. They dominate this market and that’s the reality.

    • Mark A Golden - 10 years ago

      rotflmao, your joking right….. Android is based on a Linux kernel… and Linux has supported 64-bit technology for years. your also wrong about the chips too…..nothing wrong with being a fan boy you just gotta get the correct information.

  4. Michael Jones - 11 years ago

    NXP is a HUGE IC company that has been in business for over 50 years, though you probably remember them better in the past as a part of Phillips Electronics.

    Good chance that just about any TV, stereo, consumer electronics device you own that uses high speed signaling chips has an NXP chip in it. http://www.nxp.com/about.html

  5. Dan Andersen - 11 years ago

    I went to the cited “definitive evidence” link and all I see is a claim that Chipworks told iFixit that the CPU is fabricated by Samsung. Was the definition of “definitive” changed while I wasn’t looking?

  6. NXP semiconductors is a division founded by Philips Semiconductors. They are in to TV making business.

  7. Apple please make in the next iPhone:
    4.5 inch screen
    The thin bezels
    At least 720p resolution
    In 2 or 1.5 times more than the current camera sensor
    Aspherical lenses in the lens
    Optical stabilization
    Support for 4K video to zoom during video recording
    12 MP for the zoom during shooting
    4 GB of RAM for 64 bit processor
    Dynamically change the frequency
    If you do I will definitely buy it and I will advertise it in all the social networks and sites as the best smartphone

    • Darryl Bass - 10 years ago

      most of what you just described is already available on any number of Android phones, the rest will be on Android by Q2 2014.

      stop wishing for apple to give you what you want when you can have it now.

    • Mark A Golden - 10 years ago

      as being an apple fan you should know that they don’t listen to their customers …… apple makes what they want and their fan adjust to it and pretend to be satisfied…….

  8. John Park - 10 years ago

    “Comically, after every new product launch, we get headlines like: ‘After its disastrous Exynos 5 Octa, Samsung may have lost Apple’s A7 contract to TSMC’.”
    Low blow as I think the referenced journalist probably spent more time researching and presenting facts & opinions than any other articles about the same topic, rather than rewriting the findings of another firm. Unfortunate about the results but still goes beyond most tech journalists’ research these days.

  9. Simon Craddock - 10 years ago

    It must be like a nagging mosquito bite to the iFanbois to know they are using the latest Samsung made processors lol.

  10. manpreet singh - 10 years ago

    great for sony….

  11. There was mighty speculation among the internet as to the manufacturer of Apple’s new A7 processor. We uncovered it last night during the iPhone 5s teardown, but now Chipworks has taken it one step further. Through the magic of decapping an IC, their internal shots revealed the A7 to be made by Samsung. Die photos of the A7 are coming.

    harga tablet Advan S5E : http://hargatabletterbaru.net/harga-tablet-advan-s5e.html

  12. David Leca - 9 years ago

    Just by a Samsung go to the source. I phone is junk!

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