Does it matter which iPhone 6s processor you have?

Samsung vs TSMC. Does it really matter?

Last week news broke that the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus feature two different processor chips, one from Samsung and the other from TSMC. Early benchmarking tests showed that their performance was nearly identical. The same can’t be said about the battery life, surprisingly. But how much of a difference is there between the chips?

Initial research showed a 20% difference in battery life between the Samsung and TSMC chips, in favor of the TSMC. But I’m not convinced that there’s any reason for iPhone 6s or 6s Plus owners to exchange their phones with the Samsung processor. While synthetic benchmarks are useful for a baseline comparison, real world performance is completely different. It’s unlikely you’ll notice the battery life difference between the two processors in day to day use, unless you’re running the CPU at full speed constantly.

apple-iphone-6splus-front

In an attempt to keep up with demand, Apple made the decision to get its A9 chips from two different manufacturers this time around. The Samsung chip is physically smaller than the TSMC chip because it uses a 14-nanometer process instead of TSMC’s 16-nanometer process.

Some owners have gone as far as returning their iPhones to Apple in hopes of scoring a new phone with the TSMC processor. The thing is, there’s no way to tell which processor the phone is running until you unbox it, set it up, download a system info app, and look at the CPU model number. In short, you’ll be opening iPhones like Pokémon booster packs (assuming Apple even lets you exchange your working iPhone).

Apple, noticing the brouhaha, released a statement about the processor differences:

“Certain manufactured lab tests which run the processors with a continuous heavy workload until the battery depletes are not representative of real-world usage, since they spend an unrealistic amount of time at the highest CPU performance state. It’s a misleading way to measure real-world battery life. Our testing and customer data show the actual battery life of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, even taking into account variable component differences, vary within just 2-3% of each other.”

The guys over at Ars Technica dug into the issue and found Apple’s claims to be true. The controlled tests made sure each iPhone was running the same screen brightness with the SIM cards removed. While its tests included only a small sample size, Ars concluded:

“Most of the time, iPhone 6S battery life should be similar no matter which chip your phone is using...For what it's worth, the iPhone 6S with the Samsung chip is the one that I'll be using every day, and I'm heartened enough by these findings that I'm not worried about returning it so I can get a TSMC phone.”

Processors always vary in performance because of manufacturing. Intel tackles the problem by separating their chips into different performance lines (Core i3, i5, i7). Apple isn’t doing this, so it’s up to the company to make sure processors leaving Samsung and TSMC are are up to its standards. If anything, Apple will be stricter about the variances of its processors after these reports.

Samsung vs TSMC iPhone A9 processor

If you’re happy with your iPhone’s battery life, then don’t worry about it. If you do notice a significant difference in claimed battery life, then you have a valid excuse to exchange your phone. The iPhone 6s is rated by Apple for up to 14 hours of talk time on 3G (up to 10 hours of internet browsing on LTE). The iPhone 6s Plus is rated for up to 24 hours of talk time on 3G (up to 12 hrs of internet browsing on LTE).

In short, your iPhone 6s is most likely perfectly fine. If you really want to check which processor you have, you can download an app called Lirum Device Info Lite. Here’s a breakdown of model numbers for the different processors:

  • N71mAP — TSMC
  • N66mAP — TSMC
  • N71AP — Samsung
  • N66AP — Samsung

My advice? Just enjoy your shiny new gadget.

More Like This
Comments