Battery Life of Samsung vs. TSMC A9 Chip in iPhone 6s [Chart]

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Posted October 12, 2015 at 6:09pm by iClarified

Check out this battery life comparison of the Samsung vs. TSMC made A9 chip performed by Ars Technica.

Discussion around the battery life of the A9 chip started after users running benchmarks found that the TSMC chip was lasting almost two hours longer than the Samsung made chip. Apple responded to reports by claiming that the difference in real world usage was just 2-3%.

Ars compared the difference in Wi-Fi browsing, WebGL, Geekbench 3, and GFXBench tests and found that the Samsung did have consistently lower battery life results, except in the WebGL test in which it barely edged out the TSMC.

The Geekbench test was the only test that caused what we would believe to be a statistically significant difference, one that we can definitely attribute to the SoC rather than the screen or the battery itself or some other system component. All three of the other tests showed the two phones scoring within two to three percent of each other, which just happens to be the same figure Apple quoted to the press last week. The heavier Geekbench test, on the other hand, showed the TSMC phone lasting an average of 28 percent longer than the Samsung phone.

While there are definitely situations where the TSMC chip does better than the Samsung, Ars believes that battery life should in general be similar no matter which chip you use.

Take a look at the chart below and follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS for updates. You can check which chip you have by following these instructions.

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Battery Life of Samsung vs. TSMC A9 Chip in iPhone 6s [Chart]

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Mang Domeng - October 13, 2015 at 3:30pm

I don't really upgrade to iPhones with s in it. For me Apple is testing the new features in the s series then polished on the phones without s (ex. iPhone 7). I noticed that with my friend's iPhone 5s when finger print sensor and 64bit processor was released. When iPhone 6 was released the finger print sensor is more responsive than the 5s and the battery has improved. Major changes are also released in iPhones without s like the larger screen in 6plus. In this case for the Samsung and TSMC chip, Samsung maybe sabotaging the chips so that it will not be as good as the ones they use in their Galaxy phones unlike TSMC which they must do a really good job in applying the chip designed by Apple because their company's business rely on Apple's chip orders. But in the end Apple must test both chips from their suppliers to know if they have complied with their standards in order to avoid this noticeable comparisons.

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gamerscul9870 - October 13, 2015 at 9:08pm

To me, s versions of iPhones fix what their predecessors had like fixing problems with the new phones, and better yet it takes the facelift of what new iPhone get and make it better than before even if it was first created 2 years ago. Who knows how much better Touch ID is getting. I wouldn't tmind a bit more time having it scan my finger on my 5s and still works just fine.

JayKD - October 14, 2015 at 7:27pm

Im kinda on the same boat as you are. Since iPhone 4, i always get the non-s version. Well, 2 years contract also forces me to skip the next gen mostly but i still think that non-s version has better improvements overall. For instances, iP4 was huge due to fantastic redesign of the phone. 4S was like meh.. Samething but bit better processor. Then 5 came out big again with thinner but longer screen with finally offering LTE bandwidth. 5S was nothing but fingerprint scanning which was another meh. iP6 with 5.5inch screen which made Galaxy Note users to come back to iOS. Now 6S with live photo and rosegold color. I think S version of 6 gets the most boring upgrades so far. Live photo is nothing new but just a copy from other app.(there were apps that do live photo before, but Apple bought it) im not saying 6S is worse than 6. They used new materials for casing so that it can be more sturdier. And 2GB memories blahblah. But no significant upgrades. Im sure 7 will come with dual sims that so many ppl asked for. Plus something new that make 6S users feel miserable again. Thats how their cycles work

gamerscul9870 - October 14, 2015 at 8:52pm

Say what you want about how you see phone as the same, but even by a small change on the outside for s versions, this year there was more to offer than any s phone has ever gotten excluding 3GS and 4s because it has more than one tiny change than a usual and yes 2gb is that big a deal and steps up 1gb so blah blah yourself!

ChiChi - October 13, 2015 at 4:04am

...and that's not all folks!. I'm not sure for other people but my girlfriend and I both have 6S Plus on iOS9.0.2. She is one of the lucky ones that have the TSMC A9 (N66MAP) chip and I have the bad one (Samsuck A9 N66AP). Except for music, we both have exactly the same apps installed in our iPhones but mine is buggier/lags than hers. especially the native apps like that Safari, the keyboard, Mail, iMessage, FaceTime, and camera (takes and saves images a little slower on mine, same resolution). For sure a buggier microprocessor surely contributes to the draining battery life as well. Oh yes her phone lasts about an average of 1hr longer of usage time than mine.

rahilxx98 - October 13, 2015 at 3:45am

I can't wait for the iPhone 7. Already stashed some racks for next year.

MftFM - October 13, 2015 at 2:24am

apple was right! 2-3%

justabrake - October 12, 2015 at 8:49pm

6 -6s has so many little problems ! Resales on these are going to be low !

gamerscul9870 - October 12, 2015 at 11:01pm

I own a 6 and is still good like brand new. Most of my friends have a 6s and all of them said they love it and have TSMC. Every phone we have currently work flawless.

stevenlacross - October 12, 2015 at 6:15pm

Basically the tmsc chip is better

SimonSays - October 12, 2015 at 6:22pm

But the thing is, it shouldn't be!! The Samsung chip has a smaller die and in turn should consume less power. In just about every test the 14nm Samsung chip should be better than the 16nm TSMC chip, power consumption, heat, speed........but it isn't. That's the most interesting part of this whole thing. Looks like Samsung hasn't really fine tuned their 14nm process if a 16nm process can beat it in power consumption and heat.

gamerscul9870 - October 12, 2015 at 6:35pm

It's probably a glitched out version of this 14nm technology of theirs anyway like all the other versions of stuff they made.

prostovanka - October 12, 2015 at 6:35pm

Finally, someone with a brain. That is a good point. Smaller processor == smaller distance for data to travel which should make it more energy efficient.

matrixmaniac - October 12, 2015 at 7:31pm

Samsung made that on purpose to have their Galaxy phones look better in comparison! LOL

Butterspider - October 12, 2015 at 11:58pm

Thats what i think. Samsung sand baggin' 'em!