Last year, #bendgate got all the iPhone users worried that they are going find waking up the next morning and their iPhones bent. Well, not really, but still the whole world went crazy about iPhone 6 being bent while in their pocket and the hype was legit till a point.
If you take a step away from the hype and actually think about the circumstances the phones were getting bent, that was not something someone would put their phones through if they really cared about their phone. Yes, the phone changed its physical attributes when 90+ pounds of force were applied at the center of the phone. But, even other phones could not withstand little extra force and changed their shape.
Now the tech community is back with another #gate with the recently announced iPhone 6s and 6s+. This time they are calling it #chipgate.
What Is Chipgate ?
With the release of its new flagship phones, it powered the phones with a new line of processing chips, the “A9”. Since the company manufactures more than 13 million devices for its users, it was not possible for any manufacturing company to deliver the amount of chips needed within the time frame and consistency (we’ll talk about that later). So, Apple decided to outsource its processor like it does with the flash memory and the RAM.
Apple trusted SAMSUNG and TSMC( Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) for getting the job done.
Both the companies did their job and the devices were ready for public by the date. After the release, an article from chipworks started whirling around the tech community.
The article explains that upon a complete teardown of the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s +, they found two different types of chips on the devices. And when these devices were put under different benchmark tests, the results (in some cases) proved the chip manufactured by TSMC provided more power and a bit longer battery life than the one that was manufactured by Samsung.
This is now being called the CHIPGATE.
Should iPhone 6s and 6s+ Users Be Worried
NO!
It is the simplest answer I can give, let me explain myself.
First, let’s dig a bit deeper into the discussion.
Chipworks confirms in the article that the chips from TSMC are bigger in size than the one from SAMSUNG.
Samsung manufactured the chips on a 14nm process and TSMC on a 16nm process. It is believed that the bigger processor gives better performance right? But it is also believed that the chips made on 14nm give better performance than those on 16nm process. So the A9 chip does not follow the “technical” theory.
Apple also tried to make it clear for its customers that they acknowledge the fact that the processors are different and there is a difference of 2-3 % between the two chips and devices that use those chips.
But let’s not forget that all the kinds of tests that were carried on and the benchmarks that the devices were put through, almost none of them replicate the real world scenario. The benchmarks are programmed to push any device to its final limits and then rate the performance and the battery life.
During a day, the phone goes through different power cycles. If you have a really busy day, you might use your phone to make a couple of phone calls and that’s it, compared to the day where you just lay on your bed, enjoying social media or your favorite game all day long. The battery is definitely going to drain faster if you keep pushing your phone to its fullest capacity.
Coming back to the debate, the phones might have different “types” of chips and there might be some slight performance lags between them. But I bet if you put two phones other than iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s+ , lets say Samsung S5. If we put two S5 through different benchmarks, you will definitely not get same results will you? Obviously not, because not all the devices, even from the same manufacturer are made equally or identically similar and there are lots of other components that might be the reason for the slight difference when it comes to performance.
Final Verdict
None of this would come forward, hadn’t it been found out that apple outsourced the manufacturing process for its processor. And since Samsung is considered to be the biggest rival of apple, I was surprised that they trusted their rival for the most delicate part of their flagship phone.
Even though Chipgate might be a thing in the coming days, as all the tech experts have started pouring their verdict, suggestions, reviews about this issue, we still have not seen each and everyone start going crazy about their phone’s benchmark tests.
All I can say is sit back, relax and enjoy your iPhone 6s or 6s+, because no devices that are the same are actually not, when compared head to head.
Like Apple Says “ THINK DIFFERENT”
