So we haven't actually seen an LPP part yet, and the Apple A9 was on LPE. Meaning that we have absolutely no real world data on how 16FF+ and LPP compare.
So can we all please shut up about inferior and superior processes? We can't possibly know at this point, so just give it a rest. Jesus Christ.
My sources still stand by the fact that A9 was LPP even in light of this PR, FWIW.
Interestingly what I'm hearing is that A9 was supposed to be LPE, but in order to hit desired performance levels, Apple needed to move to LPP.
Anyway, if Samsung is going to launch the S7 in February, this means that 14LPP needed to have been in production in late 2015. Cycle time for 14/16nm is on the order of 1.5 quarters (wafer in to packaged and tested chip out) so if they are just starting production now, a February S7 (in any real quantity) launch would be nigh impossible.
One more thing to keep in mind...Samsung put out a PR announcing 14LPE mass production in like February 2015, but they were talking about how mass production began in October 2014 (or was it December?) on investor calls/roadshows.
So I wouldn't necessarily rely on the timing of these PRs for a really accurate sense of when production on a given process -- especially for a customer like Apple that's very secretive -- began.