The iPhone 8 will launch in September, some say. Others add that a limited September launch will be followed by a full launch in October or November. More pessimistic reports claim the phone could be delayed even longer, and arrive only in early 2018. And then we have the most optimistic stories that claim the phone will not see any kind of delays. All these contradicting stories keep hitting the web on a regular basis, so we can’t tell for sure who’s correct. A new rumor indicates that if there are any delays, one of the most sophisticated components in the iPhone 8 and iPhone 7s will not be responsible.
The A11 chip that’ll power Apple’s next batch of iOS devices, including the iPhone 8, iPhone 7s, and future iPad generations, is going to be faster than the A10 Fusion, and more energy-efficient. That’s because the chip is built on a next-gen chip design process, the 10nm process that was also used for the speediest chips that will power this year’s top Android devices. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 and the Exynos 8995 are two such examples.
Some reports said earlier this year that all chip makers are having issues with the production of 10nm chips, which could cause launch delays for various OEMs, Apple included. But a new note from Digitimes now says that A11 production is on schedule.
“TSMC has begun 10nm chip production for Apple’s next-generation iPhone 8 series, the sources said,” Digitimes writes. “Production was once affected by issues involving stacking components in the backend integrated fan-out packaging process, but they have already been solved, the sources said.”
TSMC is providing 10nm chips to other companies as well, including MediaTek and HiSilicon, which suggests the company may have indeed fixed the early yield issues. That said, the A11 chip was never the only iPhone 8 component that could be causing delays; the Touch ID sensor that should be placed somewhere in the screen’s layers is said to be an even bigger headache.
