Hasta La Gadget!

Apple and Samsung, as many of you already know, have not had the most civil of professional relationships. Samsung has long been a provider of hardware for Apple products, but with the recent high-profile patent suit between the two, it seems that relationship has soured a bit. New reports from CNET and Taiwan Economic News (via MacRumors) are claiming that Apple is looking to move away from Samsung when it comes to the chips for its products, instead striking a deal Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and having that company produce quad-core processors for future devices.

However, this shift in manufacturing partners may not necessarily be because of the bad blood between Apple and Samsung. Apple is interested in TSMC’s 20 nanometer processes – currently, Samsung develops the A-series chips inside the iPhone and the iPad with a 32 nanometer process, and moving to TSMC’s 20 nanometer process would promise chips that are more powerful and efficient. Unfortunately for Samsung, TSMC would become the sole provider of Apple’s chips, which means that Samsung would lose a pretty big customer once Apple begins looking elsewhere.

Analysts confirmed the change in partners to CNET. “Apple is working with TSMC at 20 nanometers,” said Piper Jaffray chip analyst Gus Richard. Another unnamed source did blame the shift on Apple’s soured relationship with Samsung, saying that the iPhone manufacturer is merely looking to fulfill contractual obligations with Samsung before looking elsewhere. Because of that, we’re likely to see some Apple products using Samsung-made chips, while others begin using TSMC chips as Apple slowly switches from one to the other.

While netting Apple as a customer would be a big win for TSMC, this isn’t good news for TSMC’s other customers. Apple, obviously, buys an incredible amount of processors due to the absurd popularity of its devices, so putting that kind of demand on TSMC means that less attention will be paid to the company’s other clients. Apple could look to test out TSMC later this year or early 2013, with production of these new chips ramping up late next year for use in products that will be releasing in 2014. Stay tuned, because we’ll undoubtedly hear more about this change soon.

Apple reportedly moving chip production away from Samsung is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Reports have been circulating that devices running Android 4.2, rumored to be code-named Key Lime Pie (though it’s seeming more likely that it will retain the Jelly Bean moniker), have been popping up in server logs and benchmarks across the web. Well, after doing some digging through our own records, we’re seeing quite a few instances of hardware running the unannounced Google platform visiting Engadget. Now, we do feel it necessary to add the caveat that there are some strange reports in our logs as well, coming from hardware allegedly running Android 5.0 and 6.0, but we’re not convinced of their authenticity. We are, however, fairly certain that the numerous Galaxy Nexii hitting our site sporting Android 4.2, build JOO90B, are legit. We’re also seeing a number of occams, potentially an obtuse reference to the RAZR (a Moto Nexus perhaps?) pinging our servers running the same build. Like others, we’re seeing reports of the Arc S running 4.2 as well, but upon further investigation it seems more likely that this is a beta of Jelly Bean 4.1 currently being tested by Sony. Obviously, none of this is official, but it only makes the impending release of a new Nexus or Nexii seem all the more likely.

Filed under: Mobile

Android 4.2 shows up in our server logs, shocks no one originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Oct 2012 17:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just a little over a week after a brawl broke out at one of Foxconn’s factories in China, we’re now getting reports that Foxconn workers have gone on strike due to iPhone 5 quality demands. China Labor Watch is reporting that the strike happened today at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou Factory and involved three to four thousand production workers, most of which were onsite quality control personnel. The result of the strike? CWL says that the strike “paralyzed” production lines.

The report states that workers went on strike for a couple of different reasons. First, they were upset that they didn’t get to take time off during the holidays, but there was also an extreme amount of pressure on them to meet new quality standards that had been put in place at the factory. Management apparently put these new quality control standards in place without providing proper training, so obviously, workers weren’t able to meet the standards for iPhone production. Here’s an excerpt from China Labor Watch’s report:

It was reported that factory management and Apple, despite design defects, raised strict quality demands on workers, including indentations standards of 0.02mm and demands related to scratches on frames and back covers. With such demands, employees could not even turn out iPhones that met the standard. This led to a tremendous amount of pressure on workers. On top of this, they were not permitted to have a vacation during the holiday. This combination of factors led to the strike.

Quality control inspectors also went on strike after a fight broke out between them and the workers. Apparently, the brawl sent a handful of folks to the hospital to be treated for injuries, and despite the fact that these quality control inspectors had been physically threatened in the past and went to higher-ups to report the threats of violence, they were merely ignored by the management at the factory.

Hearing all of this, it’s no wonder that these workers went on strike today. It’s been a high-stakes period for Foxconn, with the iPhone 5 shipping late last month and a short supply that can’t catch up with demand. To have quality standards raised when workers were already having a difficult time keeping up with demand is a recipe for disaster, and it looks as if things came to a head (again) today. We’ll be keeping an ear to the ground for more details on this riot, so keep it tuned here to SlashGear for additional information.

iPhone 5 quality demands reportedly lead to large-scale Foxconn strike is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.