Apple Asks A9 Chip Suppliers for Price Cuts - DigiTimes

According to the latest report from DigiTimes, Apple has recently asked Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company to reduce the prices for A9 chips. While the South Korean tech giant has already agreed to cut the prices, TSMC is inclined to refuse. Sources claim this may affect the number of orders for A9 chips the company receives. Looks like Samsung will become the main supplier of 16-nanometer processors for the upcoming iPhone 6s.

Both Samsung and TSMC are ready for the mass-production of A9 processor. If TSMC rejects Apple’s price cut request, it may face some financial problems as the number of orders from other customers is too small.

Samsung has agreed to offer price discounts, and will even provide Apple with almost-free backend services for the A9 chips, the sources indicated. Samsung is seeking to grab the majority of A9 chip orders, the sources said.

TSMC is inclined to refuse to drop prices which could result in a cutback in A9 chip orders, the sources noted.

Apart from the new A9 processor, the next-generation iPhone will feature 2GB of RAM, updated LTE and NFC chips and a number of other improvements. The release is set to take place on September 9th.

[via DigiTimes]