It's been less than a month since Apple announced its latest flagship iPhone and the new A7 chipset that powers it, and the media is already talking about the A8 chip that will supposedly power the iPhone 6. According to a report from a Korean publication, Samsung will handle the manufacturing of around 30 to 40 percent of Apple's A8 chip, unlike the A7 chip, which is supposedly manufactured by Samsung alone.
If what the report says holds true, it would mean that Apple's plans to move away from Samsung for its hardware parts aren't going to be fulfilled for some time to come. The A8 chip will be produced by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) for the most part, but thanks to the challenge of manufacturing 20nm chips, Samsung will be included in the process as well. In short, the two companies will continue to work with each other despite all their patent-related legal spats, at least until the latter half of 2014.
None of this is confirmed right now, but just in case your iPhone-toting friends try to act clever and talk down Samsung, well, just tell them that without Samsung, their iPhone probably would be running a not-so-powerful chip from yesteryear.
