While Apple is the outfit’s cash cow, it turns out that some of the rumours about any sweeteners the companies have might have are not true.

One of the big deals is that any defective 3nm wafers using TSMC’s new process would not be billed to Apple. This would have saved Jobs’ Mob billions as one of the problems with the new process is the number of failed wafers pushing up the price. TSMC’s 3nm yield rate is 55 per cent.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said that the two companies may do anything for love, but they will not do that.

TSMC does not absorb the price of its defective 3nm wafers but will adjust it in the finished product, which would be the A17 Bionic.

In Apple’s case, TSMC slaps the price on finished goods - the A17 Bionic for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max and, eventually, the M3 for various Macs. Instead of bearing the costs of defective wafers, TSMC adjusts those losses in the price of the finished goods, suggesting that Apple might be paying more for each A17 Bionic chip.

With the A16 Bionic, it costs the California-based giant $110 apiece for each SoC, and with the A17 Bionic, that pricing difference could be more pronounced.

Kuo states that evidence that Apple is paying a higher price for the 3nm A17 Bionic will be seen in the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max launch, which are said to be more expensive than the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.