The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that it would consult with the Ministry of Economic Affairs about the possibility of asking mobile phone manufacturers to disclose the information of the central processing units (CPU) they use in their devices.
The announcement followed reported controversies surrounding the chips used in Apple Inc’s iPhone 6S, which has been available for sale in Taiwan since Friday last week.
Apple’s latest innovation was reported to have its CPUs manufactured by both Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) and Samsung.
However, some Apple fans said the chips produced by TSMC fare better than those made by its South Korean competitor in terms of energy efficiency and heat dissipation.
Because of the alleged difference, the media in Hong Kong reported that some iPhone users there have demanded they be allowed to return the iPhone 6S installed with Samsung chips in exchange for those equipped with chips made by TSMC, fearing that the information might affect the price they can sell their iPhone 6S to second-hand mobile phone retailers.
Some netizens in Hong Kong further claimed that 60 percent of the new Apple smartphones sold in the US and Japan are equipped with TSMC chips, but the percentage in Hong Kong is less than 40 percent. They said that 80 percent of the phones sold in Taiwan are equipped with chips made by Samsung.
A resolution proposed by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) and three other DPP lawmakers yesterday said the NCC should ask the manufacturers to disclose the information on the CPUs and other key components in the mobile phones.
When consumers are asked to sign a mobile phone contract, the service carriers should provide important details of the contract so customers’ interests can be protected, the resolution said.
NCC Chairperson Howard Shyr (石世豪) said consumers would pick an iPhone 6S with better performance if they were all sold at the same price. Because Apple is an international corporation, Shyr said the NCC would need to confer the proposal with the ministry and produce possible solutions within three months.
Yeh’s proposal was not welcomed by netizens.
“Using his logic, the specification of any part in any product should be disclosed to the public,” netizen Yuan Jo-shun said. “So does that mean we will need a case as big as a coffin to print this information, with a little iPhone lying there?”
Apple also issued a statement to dismiss the rumors.
“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,” the company said.
“It is 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 vary within just 2 percent to 3 percent of each other,” the company said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
RSS