Apple to potentially improve iPhone battery life by creating its own power chips

After splitting with Imagination Technologies, Apple is continuing its trend of bucking reliance on others in favour creating its own technology. Anonymous sources now state that the company plans to take power management chips into its own hands, eventually dropping Dialog Semiconductor as its supplier.

The reports come from Nikkei Asian Review, in which one anonymous source states: “Based on Apple's current plan, they are set to replace around half of its power management chips to go into iPhones by itself, starting next year.”

These chips might come as early as 2018, but another source states that time frames are less certain, instead projecting 2019. This would allow Apple to create the component that handles charging, battery life management and general energy consumption – something in which iPhones are often ridiculed for.

Apple’s new efforts are stated to be the “most advanced” chips to date, potentially solving the power management, charging and even length of battery life. The new chips are said to be manufactured solely by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), under Apple’s new design.

Needless to say, Dialog Semiconductor shares are down 17 percent since the news broke. The company itself has relied on Apple for approximately 74 percent of its revenue throughout 2016, which will be heavily impacted as the tech giant moves onto proprietary technology.

Despite already being TSMC’s biggest customer with 17 percent, Apple’s contribution is expected to see a rise to 20 percent throughout the remainder of this year and even beyond that during 2018 according to Bernstein researchers.

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