Apple Responds to TSMC vs Samsung A9 Battery Life on iPhone 6s

By now you probably know which manufacture made the A9 CPU inside your iPhone 6s, either Samsung or TSMC, with the latter showing in tests to have slightly better battery life.

Apple has now addressed this issue with a statement to TechCrunch, noting the tests you see in labs showing both models run at max performance are a “misleading way to measure real-world battery life.” The company’s own tests show the actual differences “vary within 2-3% of each other”.

The full statement is below:

With the Apple-designed A9 chip in your iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus, you are getting the most advanced smartphone chip in the world. Every chip we ship meets Apple’s highest standards for providing incredible performance and deliver great battery life, regardless of iPhone 6s capacity, color, or model.

Certain manufactured lab tests which run the processors with a continuous heavy workload until the battery depletes are not representative of real-world usage, since they spend an unrealistic amount of time at the highest CPU performance state. It’s a misleading way to measure real-world battery life. Our testing and customer data show the actual battery life of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, even taking into account variable component differences, vary within just 2-3% of each other.

TechCrunch’s Matthew Panzarino asked Apple why two manufacturers made the A9, but the company did not comment. Theories as to why Apple went with two companies to produce A9 CPUs could be to increase production for its record 13 million sales weekend, or to also decrease its reliance on Samsung for chipmaking.

Earlier today, maker of the free app Lirum Device Info, which revealed to iPhone 6s owners which A9 CPU their device housed, pulled their app from the App Store, stating it was their decision and not Apple’s.

The Brazilian developer wrote the following on Facebook:

Dear users of Lirum Device Info,

We are aware of some serious issues or our Apps with the latest iOS models (iPhone 6S and iPad Air 2). Changes on the requirements for a new update to be approved are also delaying the development process (and our team is very small).
In face of such events, in 24 hours, we will take Lirum Device Info down from the App Store – until we can release a decent update. That will take a few months however – but then we promise an entire new user interface, faster updates when a new device model is released, and a lot of new features.

Until then, the app will continue to work on models equal or prior to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

Best Regards,
Rogério Hirooka
Lirum Labs

Of course, conspiracy theorists may believe the timing of this move is uncanny, considering the free app probably was downloaded millions of times in the past 48 hours.