MacRumors

Last month, word surfaced that Apple had signed on with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for production of the next-generation A6 and A7 chips destined for future iOS devices. Samsung has been Apple's manufacturing partner for the A4 and A5 chips, but several reports have been claiming that Apple has been trying to shift to TSMC in part because of strained relations between Apple and Samsung over intellectual property issues.

The Korea Times now reports that Apple will indeed primarily be sticking with Samsung for A6 production.

"Apple has been in talks with Samsung over shipment of its A6 quad-core mobile processor (AP) chips to be used in the next iPhone. It appears that Apple clearly has concluded that Samsung remains a critical business partner," an executive from an Apple parts supplier based in Korea said on condition of anonymity.

He said that Samsung has been increasing the output of the Apple-designed A6 chips in its manufacturing plant in Austin, Texas.

The apparent shift back to Samsung for the A6 is said to be tied to TSMC having issues with its production process, with Apple understandably requiring a stable component supplier as it looks toward its next-generation iOS devices.

"The manufacturing process at TSMC hasn’t been stabilized. Considering Apple's previous patterns of adopting qualified technologies, Apple isn't taking risks. Samsung offers better pricing and capacity commitment for the A6 mobile APs," said an official from a different Apple supplier.

The report also touches on the next-generation iPhone even as the iPhone 4S is only just hitting the market, reviving claims of a larger-screened "iPhone 5" design with a 4-inch display carrying the same resolution as the current iPhone.

iLounge publishes their review of the iPhone 4S and provides one of the more extensive battery comparison testing we've seen for the new model. There's been some ongoing debate in our forums about how the iPhone 4S's battery compares to the iPhone 4. In Apple's official specifications, the company claims the iPhone 4S has an improved talk time but worse standby time as compared to the iPhone 4. iLounge put the two devices to the test.

For tests with 3G Data, Audio Playback, Video Playback, and Video Recording, iLounge found that the iPhone 4S came in under the iPhone 4's battery life times. For Wi-Fi and FaceTime testing they found it to be similiar to the iPhone 4, and on Cellular Calls, they found the iPhone 4S slightly better.

For a detailed and complete list of data see iLounge's review. This graph compiles some of the data (AT&T only):

One interesting finding with 3G data was that while their Verizon 4S unit ran for the same time as the AT&T model (~ 5 hours and 54 minutes), they found the Sprint model to lag at 5 hours and 23 minutes. Comparisons across mobile providers may not be completely fair due to differences in signal strength which could impact battery life.

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Apple today announced that opening weekend sales of the iPhone 4S topped four million units, easily surpassing the 1.7 million iPhone 4 units sold during that device's debut weekend last year.

“iPhone 4S is off to a great start with more than four million sold in its first weekend—the most ever for a phone and more than double the iPhone 4 launch during its first three days,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “iPhone 4S is a hit with customers around the world, and together with iOS 5 and iCloud, is the best iPhone ever.”

Apple also announced that more than 25 million users have downloaded iOS 5, which was released last Wednesday for pre-iPhone 4S devices. In addition, over 20 million users have created iCloud accounts.

The iPhone 4S debuted in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the UK on Friday, and the device is set to launch in an additional 22 countries on October 28th. Apple expects the iPhone 4S to be available in over 70 countries by the end of the year.

Samsung is further stepping up its legal actions against Apple's latest iPhone in a new series of legal filings on Monday.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Samsung has filed for preliminary injunctions in both the Tokyo District Court and in the New South Wales Registry, Australia to halt sales of the Phone 4S in those countries.

"We are now counter-attacking Apple again," said James Chung, a spokesman at Samsung Electronics.

Samsung has already filed similar requests in France and Italy late last week. The action could also threaten sales of the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 in Japan.

The legal battle is ranging all over the world. However, the WSJ notes that last week Samsung had lost a request for ban of Apple products in the Netherlands. Meanwhile, Apple has successfully won an injunction preventing the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia. Apple has also seen some preliminary success against Samsung in the U.S. for the ongoing legal dispute.

For those awaiting an unlocked iPhone 4S, it seems that Apple is already selling them at retail stores as simply "Off Contract" devices. "Off Contract" devices are sold at full retail price and don't lock you into a contract with AT&T. The prices for these models are $649, $749 and $849 for the 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB iPhone 4S models.

The finding was noted by 9to5Mac and had also been discussed in the MacRumors forums where multiple users noticed that iTunes informed them of the "Congratulations your iPhone has been unlocked" message from iTunes:

I really have no idea. Part of me thinks it was some kind of glitch. The only thing I can think of is that a paid full price and didn't extend my contract. I ordered through Apple too. I wish there was a way I could confirm it, but I don't have any T Mobile or foreign sims laying around lol - BFW122083

The same thing appeared on mine when I did a restore... I am wondering if it came like this from the factory because I paid the full $849.99 for a 64 GB because my AT&T contract was not eligible for an upgrade...- mjcxp

The common thread was that they were purchased as off contract devices. Developer @stroughtonsmith has since verified this by purchasing one himself.

Meanwhile, it seems Sprint iPhone 4Ss are also come GSM unlocked according to @gruber who was able to successfully use a Canadian SIM card in his Sprint iPhone 4S. However, Sprint has promised to lock them at a later date.

Only a day after the iPhone 4S launch and rumors of the next Apple iPhone have already started. CNet reports that it's actually Apple's next iPhone that will get a major redesign. Of course, we've heard that before.

CNet cites two sources for the news. First is a research note from analyst Ashok Kumar at Rodman & Renshaw. Kumar claims that Steve Jobs was intimately involved with the next iPhone from concept to final design. Kumar recites features that have been circulating previously, including a slimmer profile and larger screen size.

CNet, however, also has their own source who seems to have very similar information:

Another source, who I spoke with this week and who claims to have knowledge of the redesign, said the iPhone 5 is a "complete redesign. This is a very large project that Steve dedicated all of his time to. He was not that involved in the 4S because his time was limited."

Most have already expected that the next iPhone will be a case redesign. With the release of the iPhone 4S, Apple seems to have established a pattern for their releases. A new design (iPhone 3G, 4), and then one with internal improvements (3GS, 4S).

Some Sprint customers are reporting slow data speeds now that the iPhone has finally launched on the country's number three network.

There is a lengthy thread on Sprint's discussion boards, with iPhone 4S owners reporting extremely slow data speeds on launch day. Some report having difficulty using Siri over 3G because Sprint's data network was being so unreliable. One user said his Samsung Epic Touch with 4G turned off returned 3-times faster speeds than his iPhone 4S in the same location. Another Sprint user claims that his new iPhone and his Evo 3D are both slow.

A thread in the MacRumors forums shows that while some users are having poor data speeds on Sprint, others are having no problems, so it could be a signal strength or location issue rather than a widespread network problem. Gizmodo's unscientific speedtest survey is showing dramatically slower speeds for Sprint than either Verizon or AT&T. Sprint is the only U.S. iPhone carrier that offers unlimited data to new customers.

It's unclear if this is just launch-week jitters, a more widespread problem with Sprint's network, or something in between -- as more and more Sprint iPhones arrive in the wild, we should get a clearer picture of Sprint's ability to handle lots of new data-hungry iPhone customers.

Many readers are now enjoying some of the quirkier responses coming from Siri, Apple's intelligent assistant built into the iPhone 4S. The Wall Street Journal spoke with one of the co-founders of the original Siri and how they approached instilling Siri with personality:

"There were many conversations within the team about whether it should be gender neutral" or "should have an 'attitude,' " said Mr. Winarsky, who didn't go to Apple, and still works at SRI. The result, before the software was bought by Apple, was "occasionally a light attitude," he said.

According to a different person who actually worked at Apple on the Siri project, Apple focused on keeping Siri's personality "friendly and humble -- but also with an edge". According to their source, they were thinking "How would we want a person to respond?" while developing the software.

The Siri group is said to be one of the largest software teams at Apple and the crafted responses are to try to forge an emotional tie to customers. MacRumors forum readers are posting their favorite responses in this discussion thread.

Siri launched as an exclusive feature for the iPhone 4S and allows users to speak questions and requests directly to their iPhone.

Apple's stock price closed at its highest price ever today, closing at $422.00 as Sprint and AT&T announced record iPhone Sales. It wasn't an all-time high price for the stock, however. That was reached during intraday trading three weeks ago on September 20, at $422.86.

Apple's fourth quarter earnings will be announced next Tuesday, October 18th at 4:30PM.

Following Sprint's announcement of record sales, AT&T also announced a very busy sales day. AT&T didn't break out sales totals for the iPhone, but reports it is seeing record activations.

As of 4:30 pm ET today, AT&T had already activated a record number of iPhones on our network – and is on-track to double our previous record for activations on a single day. These record volumes may produce slower activations for some customers, though our systems continue to run at record levels.

AT&T was Apple's launch partner in 2007, and the exclusive partner until Apple launched the Verizon iPhone earlier this year.

AT&T hit this record despite their activation servers having difficulties handling the unprecedented demand. iPhone 4S owners reportedly had difficulties with activations on multiple carriers, and not just AT&T.

The iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S broke the "device family" one-day sales record today, according to the company. The milestone was breached by 1pm Eastern.

Sprint didn't break out sales totals for the iPhone, but Sprint's product chief said today was the company's "best ever day of sales in retail, web and telesales for a device family in Sprint history." Sprint attributes the strong sales to their "truly unlimited" data plan.

Sprint is the only U.S. carrier to offer unlimited data to new customers. Earlier today Moody's downgraded Sprint's credit rating "citing impacts on the wireless carrier's liquidity and leverage from its decision to invest in its own fourth-generation network assets and the expected phase-out of its failed partnership with Clearwire Corp." according to the WSJ.

This is first time that Sprint has carried the iPhone line. The iPhone was originally an AT&T exclusive in the U.S. and only expanded to Verizon in early 2011. Sprint is now one of three mobile carriers to offer the iPhone in the U.S.

Photos taken by new iPhone 4S owners have begun appearing on Flickr. Apple has touted Flickr's Camera Finder in the past to show how popular the iPhone 4 is as a camera. Photos of eggs, a remote control and a parking garage have been posted and all look very impressive.

iLounge have also posted a number of comparison shots between the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S cameras, including this pair of shots of peacock feathers. Left is the iPhone 4S, right is the iPhone 4.

Image courtesy iLounge

While iFixit performed the first thorough teardown of the iPhone 4S yesterday, Chipworks has now turned its more powerful equipment on the chips themselves, notably identifying Sony as the manufacturer of the 8-megapixel camera sensor in the first iPhone 4S they examined.

In order to get our readers the device manufacturer as soon as possible, rather than going through a fuming sulfuric acid chip deprocessing we chose to use our infrared microscope to look through the structure of this image sensor. What you see are the die markings on the base layer of the image sensor. The image isn’t beautiful, but it’s enough to tell us that Sony is in our particular iPhone 4S.

OmniVision has historically been the supplier for the image sensor in the iPhone, but comments from Sony CEO Howard Stringer earlier this year started rumors that Sony might take over production for the iPhone 4S. Later reports had said the two companies would be splitting the load with OmniVision handling up to 90% of production, but issues at OmniVision were later said to have led to Apple shifting orders to Sony. Weak financial guidance from OmniVision further fueled rumors that it had lost at least a substantial portion of the iPhone business.

As Chipworks notes, a single test unit is not sufficient to establish the balance of production should Apple be employing a dual-supplier solution for the iPhone 4S camera sensor. But Sony is at least involved in production this time around, and additional results should give a better picture of where Apple's orders have fallen.