People hoping that Apple will drop the Samsung albatross from around its neck for the forthcoming iPhone 6s may be disappointed.
According to a new report coming from the Asian supply chain, Samsung has come to an agreement with Apple to supply new 20nm LPDDR4 DRAM memory chips for the next generation iPhone, expected this September. Samsung will reportedly provide half of the chips Apple needs for its next iPhone, and has no problems upping the order if more are required.
Apple Watch will borrow a lot of tech from the iPhone when it ships in April, but according to a new rumor from supply chain sources in China, Apple is planning to bring one of its wearable’s coolest features to the next iPhone.
The Economic Daily News has reported that Apple is considering adding ‘3D touch’ technology to the iPhone 6s, similar to Apple Watch’s Force Touch. According to the sources, Apple’s is planning to tap US-based Avago Tech as the main supplier for the iPhone 6S 3D touch technology.
Apple has been trying to wean itself from being dependent on Samsung’s smartphone components for years, but breaking up is proving nearly impossible to do.
According to a report from Recode, Apple is turning back to Samsung to make the next-generation A9 processors that will make their way into the iPhone and iPad later this year.
In the lead-up to the iPhone 6, everyone expected Apple to give it a sapphire glass display. Sapphire glass, it was said, would lead to nigh-indestructible screens: Scratched and shattered iPhone displays would become a thing of the past.
Of course, we all know what happened from there. Apple’s sapphire partner, GT Advanced Technologies, completely collapsed, and the iPhone 6 shipped with plain old Gorilla Glass. Yet even if it hadn’t, Apple might not have used sapphire glass, which was much more reflective and harder to read in ambient light than Gorilla Glass.
But here’s the key word: was. A new technology has emerged that might make sapphire glass every bit as good when it comes to viewability as Gorilla Glass.
This week: Optical zoom and Force Touch rumored for the iPhone 6s, autonomous future-cars chauffeur us about, and we’re back from Vegas with a full report on the best gadgets, technology and trends from the 2015 International CES. And for a small fee, we cover your enemies in an explosion of spectacular glitter. Seriously.
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Full show notes ahead!
The Rumor: Your iMacs and MacBooks will be powered by ARM processors in 1 - 2 years/
The Verdict Not likely to happen yet. Ming Chi Kuo, aka “the world’s most accurate Apple analyst” has been wrong a time or two, and I think this is time he’s way off. Ditching Intel chips has been rumored forever. It still doesn’t make sense, as Apple would be sacrificing a lot of processing power for modest battery gains. It could happen in the next five years, but Kuo’s prediction that we’ll see an ARM powered MacBook in the next year sounds too soon to be true.
Although high-end smartphones can boast anything up to 4GB RAM these days, the iPhone has been stuck on 1GB ever since the iPhone 5. This hasn’t really been much of a problem, because iOS is so efficient that developers have been able to continue making apps and games superior to most things on Android, while sticking within the 1GB limit.
This may be about to change, however, according to a new report circulating in the Taiwanese media, which suggests that Apple plans to boost up its iPhone to 2GB of LPDDR4 memory for its forthcoming iPhone 6s, which will likely arrive this September.
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus featured Apple’s best-ever iPhone camera, but Apple is always on the lookout for ways to beat its own sky-high standards.
According to a new report from the Chinese language website United Daily News, Cupertino is planning to create a dual-lens camera with optical zoom capabilities and a 3D pressure sensor for the iPhone 6s, which will likely arrive this September.
The iPhone 6 has barely been on the market for three months but the iPhone 6S rumor mill is starting to heat up with a battle brewing between Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) and Samsung to become the main supplier of the next-gen A9 processors.
Last month a Digitimes rumor claimed Samsung already locked up A9 chip production, but according to the Taipei Times, TSMC will continue to be the main supplier of Apple’s processors slated to the next generation of iPhones and iPads in 2015.
Researchers at the Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute (MIC) say that while the two companies have similar capabilities, TSMC is poised to win the order thanks to it’s better yields.
The Rumor: Apple Watch is going into production one month ahead of schedule.
The Verdict: Too early to tell. Taiwanese news sources say Apple Watch maker Quanta is on a hiring spree to fulfill the 24 million units Apple wants in 2015. Production is supposed to begin in January but we doubt we’ll see the Apple Watch land on stores until Spring.
This week: the next iPhone might feature a massively improved camera; Uber’s super bro culture gets bad press, but we want to party with their brogrammers; why we’re not so jazzed on Apple Watch apps; Steve Jobs drowns the first iPod prototype to prove a point; and finally, what we like and don’t about the gadgets and Apple accessories we’re reviewing—it’s an all-new Under Review.
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We drooled over Dutch designer Joseph Farahi’s iPhone Air concept last month, and now Farahi is back with a beautiful concept for Apple’s next generation iPhone 6c.
According to Farahi’s concept, the next iteration of Apple’s “affordable” iPhone model would come with a 4.7 inch Retina Display, and be just 7.1mm thick, while weighing only 116g.
In addition, he notes that he would opt to include an 8 mega-pixel camera with “True Tone Flash” able to record 120fps video, and Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint sensor: both innovations currently reserved for Apple’s flagship 5s model.
Samsung Electronics has reached a deal with Apple to supply A9 processors for the iPhone 7 from 2015, The Korea Economic Daily reports. Samsung has been producing Apple’s mobile processors since the iPhone first launched in 2007, but recent rumors have claimed the Cupertino company has been looking to take its business elsewhere.
