A7 chips for next year's Apple iPhone 6 to come from TSMC?

A rumor, relayed by Taiwan's Economic Daily News, suggests that with Samsung's contract with Apple to produce chips for its rival about to expire, Cupertino based Apple will turn to TSMC. The paper says that for 2014's Apple iPhone 6, TSMC will provide the A7 chip, built using the 20nm process. That would indicate that this year's rumored Apple iPhone 5S will not be powered by the next generation of silicon.

The Apple A6X is used on the fourth iteration of the Apple iPad

The report does add though, that the branding mentioned above could be off and that the 20nm chip could actually be called the A8 or something else. TSMC Chairman and CEO Morris Chang is extremely bullish about the 20nm technology, predicting that the line will outsell the chips made by the 28nm process in two years. At this point, any working relationship between the Taiwan chipmaker and Apple is speculation. There has been talk for years about Apple leaving Samsungand looking for a replacement. The difference is that now the acrimony between the two is so fierce after last year's epic patent trial, that a divorce between the two seems like the only way out.

The A-series chips debuted with the A4 in the OG Apple iPad in 2010. Since then, the latest version of the Apple iPad has been powered by an enhanced version of the current Apple iPhone chip using an "X" designation, like the current A6X used for the fourth generation iPad. The Apple iPhone 5 is powered by the A6.

source: EMSOne(translated), Macotakara (translated)