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iPhone gets stripped down
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02/07/2007
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One of the hopeful people lining up to get an Apple iPhone last week was a member of staff with teardown specialist Portelligent. The company stripped the device down and has taken a look at what’s inside.
“To state the obvious, this is a milestone product for both Apple and the wireless industry, so having a place amongst the suppliers of key ics that enable the iPhone carries heavy ‘bragging rights’ in the semiconductor industry,” said David Carey, Portelligent’s president and cto. “Without prejudging the commercial success of the iPhone itself, there’s no doubt that semiconductor makers who have chips in this product view their design win as having significance that goes beyond just the revenue implications – it helps validate their solution and their approach.”
According to Portelligent’s tear down, Infineon provides the core cellular communications support for the quad band GSM iPhone with a 2.5G gsm/edge rf transceiver (the M1817) and baseband processor (PMB8876).
Skyworks supplies a quad band gsm/edge power amplifier module.
Short haul wireless communications is supported by parts from CSR, with its single chip Bluetooth, and Marvell, with single chip WiFi.
Memory in the iPhone analysed by Portelligent came primarily from Intel and Samsung.
The touchscreen is supported by devices from Broadcom (touchscreen controller), NXP (microcontroller) and National Semiconductor (an LTPS display driver). Meanwhile, the 2Mpixed cmos image sensor comes from Micron Technology.
The iPhone also supports MP3 playback and a key chip in this feature is an audio CODEC from Wolfson Microelectronics.
Other companies whose devices appear in the iPhone include Linear Technology, Texas Instruments, STMicro, STT and RF Micro Devices.
Meanwhile, the iPhone’s has a complex mechanical design, says Carey. “Despite external simplicity and a serene look and feel, the internal implementation is actually quite complex. There are many secondary operations, fastener screws, and difficult orientations needed for final assembly, making the manufacture of the iPhone in China a near must.”
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Author
Graham Pitcher
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