Teardown: Inside the Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone

6/14/2012 6:23 PM EDT

Damn EEtimes!! Do you really think people will scroll through 21 pages of your teardown?

I stopped after going through 9..

6/14/2012 8:23 PM EDT

missing info
"memory package. This package consists of (enter information here). Samsung also turns to their own semiconductor business to "

6/14/2012 10:47 PM EDT

"I stopped after going through 9.."

The article is only 2 pages. The rest are just pictures. It is fascinating how they fit it all together into such a small package.

6/14/2012 11:43 PM EDT

"...this decision "optimizes" the Galaxy S3 for peak performance on America 's 4G and LTE networks."
A dual-core processor would work better than a quad-core on 4G? Some more information on 2-core vs. 4-core processors might help in understanding what makes a dual-core to work better than a quad-core on 4G.

6/15/2012 1:46 AM EDT

Cool.

6/15/2012 2:16 AM EDT

damn...21 pages to read... omg

6/15/2012 3:53 AM EDT

Samsung is coming into the market with very strong products again n again. Will this be followed by s4 in the future.

6/15/2012 4:43 AM EDT

It is not good to sell the same Brand and same Model device with different specifications in two different countries, this will reduce the trust on the companies when people come to know about differences.

6/15/2012 3:54 PM EDT

Just to put this out there - I'm not going to load 21 pages of advertisements to look at a few pictures. Had the article extended beyond a few pages, I wouldn't have read it at all. These are the kinds of things that have caused me to permanently abandon other websites in the past. Something to keep in mind for the future.

6/15/2012 5:47 PM EDT

They seem to have done a pretty good job of creating relatively few sub assemblies. And I like the relatively large 2100 mAh battery.

6/15/2012 9:12 PM EDT

Not good approach for 21 pages. But when Junko writes, it is always single long page!

6/17/2012 11:14 PM EDT

My understanding is:
- Exynos4212 dual core
- Exynos4412 Quad core

6/18/2012 2:09 AM EDT

If you want to review the entire article in one go, hit the print button. there is a pop up with the entire article. no need to print.

6/18/2012 3:26 AM EDT

One question, do you have to request permission to Samsung or any of the phone's manufacturer to make a Teardown? How about the BOM you present... how do you get it? is it just by identifying the found chips in the boards through the teardown?
It's good to see a teardown since this way we can know who are the chips more common in the phones nowadays.
And guys, why such a big fuzz about the 21 pages. Seeing 19 pictures isn't that big of a deal.

6/18/2012 5:48 AM EDT

Interesting tear-down! If you don't want to scroll through 21 pages - and even on a moderately fast link this gets really tedious, click on the [=|print] icon at the bottom of any page, and you get it all on one page - scroll to read or print this to read afterwards!

6/18/2012 5:57 AM EDT

I have heard that S3 would include a wireless charging function, but on the pictures I do not see any clue about a receiver coil embedded behind the battery(or maybe in the battery itself). Any confirmation of such function?

6/18/2012 8:16 AM EDT

May I suggest removing the battery in future BEFORE applying the hot air gun - some of those babies do not like getting hot and we would not want anyone getting hurt in the search for truth ;)
Surely the "64Gb of mobile DRAM" must be a misprint? Even if that is only 8Gbytes that is a serious amount of ram and would make it a bit pointless strapping 1GB to the top of the processor, surely?

6/19/2012 5:10 PM EDT

Samsung selected the quad-core Exynos 4212 (which was at one point named the Exynos 4412 and then finally renamed the Exynos Quad). According to Samsung, this processor was manufactured at the 32-nm node, similar to that of the latest version of the Apple A5 processor found in the 3rd generation Apple TV or 2nd generation iPad 2. This new Exynos processor uses power gating across all four cores, which apparently reduces power consumption when not in use.

6/20/2012 8:54 AM EDT

Hello, among the smart-sensors you forgot to mention the AK9875, a 3-axis compass from ASAHI KASEI.

6/20/2012 3:06 PM EDT

"6Gb of mobile flash and 64Gb of Mobile DRAM"

That would be 2GB for storage and then 8GB of DRAM.
It should be the opposite way, right?

8GB would be too much for a lightly used desktop at home. No mention to a mobile phone.

6/21/2012 10:50 AM EDT

I smell a rat with Samsung's success. How can Samsung build better smartphones than others and so close in specifications and feel to Apple's is difficult to absorb. That too in just 3 years while others are still struggling to match up with Apple.

12/13/2012 3:08 AM EST

I just bought one yesterday. Who can tell me how the Galaxy S3 implement the 'Smart stay' function. Only rely on the camera in Hardware, no other senor?

3/5/2013 4:19 PM EST

Great, but are you going to be able to put it back together!?

3/7/2013 5:32 PM EST

So...no mention about which chip solution Samsung chose for their Qi wireless charging component? I'm guessing some IDT product, but I'd like some confirmation.

3/28/2013 11:10 AM EDT

You've put a lot of effort to tear this piece of work, which is Samsung S3 down for us to see in great detail, maybe greater than some of us, including me, is capable to processs with our not so technological brain.
I would be also interested to know how exactly is a quadcore better than a quad core. For the moment, I was having great fun rooting S3, which gave me the liberty to overclock the processor, to see how much faster it could be, using XDA members' overclocking method: http://www.searchforsoft.com/reviews/How-To/Overclock-your-Samsung-Galaxy-S3-using-Ninphetamin3-custom-kernel-step-by-step-tutorial-53.htm . The phone was better in multitasking, but I renounced at this quite soon, as some of my friends warned me that it would make my phone hotter and as I saw with my own eyes that the battery lasted lesser.