Apple On iPhone 6s Chipgate: Don’t Believe The Battery Benchmark Results

It was just recently revealed that the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus carry an A9 chip from two different manufacturers – Samsung and TSMC. Out of the two, it was also made public that the latter performs much better in the battery department, lasting over two hours more than the A9 chip forged by Samsung. Apple has put its foot into the matter after the whole thing was blown out of the water (read: Chipgate) and has put a ‘nope’ on the entire situation once and for all.

“It’s a misleading way to measure real-world battery life”

According to an official statement by Apple given to TechCrunch, the company had this to say on the matter:

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.

The above statement is as clear as it gets, and reveals that the lab tests that we’ve seen of the A9 do not represent what we see in the real world. Apple even went on record saying that the difference between the TSMC and Samsung A9 chip is no more than 2-3%, and if you do the calculations, it means that there’s a mere difference of only a few minutes in terms of battery life. In essence, the lab tests are not representative of the real-world performance, and users can pick up any iPhone 6s they like, regardless of the manufacturer that made the A9 chip for it.

It’s interesting how benchmarks speak an entirely different language while real-world tests show that both the processors aren’t that different from one another. But still, we’re certain that there are going to be a subset of users who are going to be more inclined towards the TSMC model of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus rather than Samsung. And if you do happen to be that sort of person, then make sure you check out: TSMC Or Samsung A9? Find Out Which Chip Your iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus Has.