Among its discoveries, Chipworks found that the A7 chip is manufactured by Samsung, a big win for that firm after rumors surfaced earlier this year that Taiwan Semiconductor Company (TSMC) might win the contract for the new chip. Code discovered in iOS 7 back in July did suggest that Samsung would remain the primary manufacturer for the A7.
Chipworks also found what it believes to be the M7 motion coprocessor, which iFixit dubbed the "magical" chip because it couldn't be found on the logic board during the original teardown. Instead, the M7 is a discrete processor from NXP:
Luckily, we’ve been able to locate the M7 in the form the NXP LPC18A1. The LPC1800 series are high-performing Cortx-M3 based microcontrollers. This represents a big win for NXP. We had anticipated the M7 to be an NXP device based on input from industry analysts and our partners and we are happy to see this to be the case.
The M7 is dedicated to processing and translating the inputs provided to it by the discrete sensors; the gyroscope, accelerometer and electro magnetic compass mounted throughout the main printed circuit board. Traditional Apple techniques lead us to believe that the these discrete sensors will most likely be STMicroelectronics for the accelerometer and the gyroscope while the electro magnetic compass would again be an Asahi Kasei Microdevices (AKM). We have since confirmed the compass to be AKM’s AK8963.
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices.
Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025:
Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
With the second release candidate of iOS 18.4 that Apple seeded out today, the company finally provided us with release notes that give a full rundown on what to expect.
There's an Apple Vision Pro app, new Apple Intelligence features for notifications and additional language support, plus an Apple News Food feature for Apple News+ subscribers, and several updates that should improve the...
Saturday March 29, 2025 10:15 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple is reportedly working on a new Magic Mouse. Below, we recap what to expect.
The two key rumors for the Magic Mouse 3 so far include a relocated charging port, along with a more ergonomic design.
It was briefly rumored that the Magic Mouse 3 would also feature voice control, but that was misinterpreted information.
Relocated Charging Port
While the Magic Mouse switched from...
Apple's big developer event is a little over two months away, and rumors about what we can expect to see in Apple's next major operating system updates are becoming increasingly frequent.
A public release of iOS 18.4 is also imminent with a number of updates and improvements, although we won't be getting the major Apple Intelligence Siri upgrades that had reportedly been planned for this...
We've been hearing rumors about a foldable iPhone for almost a decade now, but it looks like we might finally see the device come to fruition in 2026. We're going to be waiting many more months for the foldable iPhone, but so far we're hearing good things.
Apple wants to make it creaseless. It's taken Apple multiple years to design a foldable iPhone that it's satisfied with because Apple ...
Apple today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, the fourth major updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating system updates that came out last year. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 come two months after Apple released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to...
Multiple sources have claimed that iOS 19 will introduce a new design with more translucent buttons, menus, notification banners, and more, and there is now another clue that points towards this glass-like appearance.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said the new design project is codenamed "Solarium" internally. A solarium is a room with glass walls that allow in plenty of sunlight, so this...
Apple's next-generation iPad Pro models with the M5 chip will "launch this year," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the new iPad Pro models have progressed to an "advanced testing" stage, and he expects mass production of the devices to begin in the second half of this year. If that timeframe is met, the new iPad Pro models could launch...
I hate the fact that samsung is manufacturing this chip. I dont feel comfortable with it...who knows what kind of insight that gives to this lowlife company!
Then you need to grow up. Samsung makes the Retina display, the fastest SSD disks that Apple uses in the MacBook Pro Retina, and makes the best ARM chips in the industry.
If you can't handle that, you're a deluded fanboy, and they're not "a lowlife company." They make good products for those who want to have the best specs over a curated user experience.
Just because we prefer the iPhone does not make it justified to bash a company for making a phone with rounded corners, and especially one that makes 50% of the technology in your beloved Apple devices. Excellent technology, I may add; they're at the top of the industry with hardware. Nobody makes better chips or components than they do.
Cue fanboys who will buy the iPhone despite the fact that it has Samsung-made parts and then bash Samsung endlessly using pejoratives like "Scum$sung" in 3,
I hate the fact that samsung is manufacturing this chip.
I dont feel comfortable with it...who knows what kind of insight that gives to this lowlife company!
Ask any of my friends and family, and they'll confirm that I get angry about many, many stupid things.
Being upset about who fabricates a chip for my smartphone is not even within the realm of possibility of something I could be angry about.
My suggestion is that in order to be able to post something anti-Samsung you have to sign an affidavit pledging that you own nothing with parts made by Samsung. Otherwise, you're just a hypocrite.
