Apple and Samsung have put aside their differences and taken a temporary break form their ongoing, no holds barred battle for smartphone supremacy. The two massive global corporations have managed to avoid bashing each other just long enough to reach a deal for Apple A9 processor chips, destined for a future iPhone 7.
Even though the iPhone 5s has not yet been unveiled, let alone the iPhone 6, a report from the Korean Economic Daily, Samsung has regained Apple's business due to the company's technical expertise in getting first to the 14-nanomete chips. Samsung's biggest competitor for Apple's business was Taiwan Semiconductor. Although Apple has signed a deal with Taiwan Semiconductor as well, it was likely for A8 chips for the iPhone 6, otherwise Apple would have no reason to partner with Samsung once again.
According to VentureBeat, the 14-nanometer chips are so named because that's the distance that the logic elements on the chip. To put it in perspective, a sheet of paper is 100,000 nanometers thick. The A9 processor will fit over 7,000 components in that level of thickness. What makes this significant is that the miniaturization is approaching the theoretical maximum according to some scientists. The end result will be a quantum tunneling effect that could render calculations unstable.
Apple has reportedly been trying to sign a deal with Taiwan Semiconductor for years in order to get off of its reliance on Samsung. However, Taiwan Semiconductor has been unable to match Samsung's level of development, especially with the chips. It is likely that they will crack 14-nanometer technology soon and Apple Inc. will likely sign a deal with them as well. This will allow them faster production and sales chains for vendors as well as create a bidding war over its business.
Apple's iPhone 5s, the next installment in its mobile device lineup, is rumored to be scheduled for unveiling sometime in September. As for the iPhone 6 and 7 anything but the chips is largely a matter of speculation at this point.
