Apple has made quite a name for itself in the mobile SoC market. Its chips tend to feature more graphics muscle than competing designs and the A6 was custom designed to deliver more performance and reduce power consumption.
However, things could be about to change. According to Apple Insider, Apple could use Snapdragon chips in its rumoured low cost iPhone. Qualcomm’s 28nm chips are built by TSMC rather than Samsung and they are very competitive indeed. Like Apple’s own A6 chips, Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragons feature custom cores and perhaps more importantly they are available with LTE on board.
However, it is still unclear whether the low-cost iPhone will feature 4G connectivity. In fact, it is unclear whether the low-cost iPhone is real to begin with, but numerous reports from reputable sources point to a cheaper iPhone for emerging markets.
It would make a lot of sense, as Apple is at risk of losing even more market share to cheap Androids in Asia, but then again rumours of a cheaper iPhone version have a habit of popping up every year.
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Apple might tap Snapdragon SoC for cheap iPhone
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