A trio of new rumors from a handful of Asian sources have popped up over the holiday and today, each predicting a different facet of the upcoming ‘iPhone 6S‘. While these are still just very unverified whispers at the moment, odds are that at least one of these will end up coming at least partially true.
Here’s a roundup of the latest iPhone rumors, in no particular order:
A10 Processor
OK, we lied just a little bit. First up is a rumor that’s not so much about the iPhone 6S as it is the iPhone 7. Specifically, this rumor has to do with the “A10” processor that will likely be used to power the new handset in 2016.
A Taiwanese report discovered by GforGames claims that the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company will be producing all of the chips for the new iPhone. Previous rumors indicated that Apple has elected to use TSMC for only one-third of its A9 processors (which will appear in the iPhone 6S this year).
Whether TSMC will actually be the sole manufacturer has yet to be seen, but Apple has previously been burned by its reliance on a single manufacturer for both sapphire crystal iPhone displays and Taptic Engines for the Apple Watch. It seems unlikely the Cupertino company would decide to put all of its eggs in one basket again, given how badly things have gone when the tech giant’s leadership failed to prepare for contingencies in the past.
The rumor also claims that the chips will be manufactured using a 10nm process that will enable the creation of faster, more powerful hardware. It’s not a big surprise that Apple would consider building a beefier CPU for its latest phone, so that part of the rumor, at least, seems credible.
TSMC is said to be preparing a pilot line of this chip for the end of June, roughly the same time the iPhone 6S is rumored to be entering production.
Smaller LED Backlight
The next rumor has to do with the backlight that powers the iPhone’s display. A new report suggests that Apple will be switching to a model that’s 0.2 mm thinner than the one found in the iPhone 6 line, but comes with an unfortunate side effect. The newer model is said to be 10% dimmer than its predecessor, meaning Apple will have to use additional chips to achieve the same level of brightness.
Granted: this rumor comes from DigiTimes, so it’s best taken with a Bonneville of salt. Regardless, like the faster processors, a thinner backlight seems like exactly the type of move Apple would make in an incremental iPhone update. This rumor sounds like a pretty safe bet.
Improved Camera
The final rumor for this roundup deals with the iPhone’s rear camera. We’ve already seen some (very fake) images floating around of an iPhone 6-style phone sporting dual cameras on the back, but this rumor seems a bit more believable.
The latest claim from Feng says that Apple will finally move on from its 8MP sensor to a new 12MP model. The new sensor will be an RGBW model from Sony. This is far from the first time we’ve heard of a 12MP upgrade for the iPhone, but several recent reports have indicated that this might actually be the year that it happens. Apple has reportedy spent an entire year quality testing the camera.
Autofocus speed on the new camera is also said to be improved.
