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Teardown: Inside Apple's iPhone 5

Allan Yogasingam

9/21/2012 3:23 PM EDT

ST, Dialog Semi, SanDisk, Elpida, Broadcom
Returning for what is now a sixth appearance in an iPhone are STMicroelectronics paired accelerometers—the L3G4200DH 3-axis digital MEMS gyroscope and the LIS331DLH 3-Axis MEMS accelerometer. Apple feels very comfortable with both of these devices, and one wonders if Nintendo will continue to use these same ICs as well in its next console, the Wii U.

Speaking of familiar manufacturers, Dialog retains its power management IC socket with a new device, the Agatha II, or the D2013. Cirrus Logic also retains its audio codec in the iPhone 5.

[Get a 10% discount on ARM TechCon 2012 conference passes by using promo code EDIT. Click here to learn about the show and register.]

For memory, the 32-GB of NAND flash found in the iPhone 5 torn down by UBM TechInsights was provided by SanDisk. The processor memory is found on a package-on-package (PoP) with the A6 applications processor. The PoP we found in our handset utilized Elpida's B8164B3PM 1-GB pow-power DDR2 (LPDDR2) SDRAM.

Lastly, Broadcom maintains its key design wins in the iPhone 5, with the major win being Broadcom's BCM4334 single-chip dual-band 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0+HS & FM receiver combo chip providing the wireless connectivity to the handset.  This same die was found within the Samsung Galaxy S3, suggesting that this combo chip is the current king of Wi-Fi.


Inside the Murata module containing the Broadcom BCM4334.





song-chou-1

9/22/2012 10:44 AM EDT

How does Intel get away with claiming technology leadership with foundry regarding mobile SOC?

Iphone 5 shipping now ~50M units this year
4G MDM9615 manufactured in **28nm**
A6 in **32nm**

Intel last week Razr announced but not shipping
3G manufactured in **foundry 45nm**
Atom in **32nm**

Intel's 22nm finFET SOC does not ship until end of 2013. Something is very wrong. I hear moving design IP and transistor variation is the problem due to finFET being on bulk and requiring fin doping

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KRS03

9/22/2012 12:34 PM EDT

From a simple viewpoint, any progress in battery technology would affect size and weight for these phones more than any other aspect. (FYI, a little editing would improve your article.)

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Tupak

9/24/2012 11:13 AM EDT

The only problem is that from a pure technical point on view that is not that easy.

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goafrit

10/6/2012 3:44 PM EDT

Samsung is going to use battery technology to knock out Apple

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truekop

9/22/2012 10:26 PM EDT

Does the iphone5 have a MEMS microphone ? If so who is the manufacturer ?

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dylan.mcgrath

9/25/2012 11:27 AM EDT

@truekop- this is from
UBM TechInsights chief teardown engineer Chad Davis:

“Yes, there were two MEMS microphones at the top of the phone and a large condenser type microphone at the bottom of the phone that resembled a speaker.”

No word yet on the manufacturer, but I will try to find out.

BTW, a listing of the major components in the handset (not including MEMS microphones) was added to the end of the article:

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4396862/Teardown--Inside-Apple-s-iPhone-5?pageNumber=20

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jakeb3482

10/4/2012 1:06 PM EDT

Likely it is Knowles.

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goafrit

10/6/2012 3:45 PM EDT

Not Knowles. It is STMicro

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goafrit

10/6/2012 3:45 PM EDT

Yes. all smartphones do

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tthappy

9/23/2012 8:53 AM EDT

Apple's handset are with the same processor or power management unit,such as: ipad, iphone, and apple and maybe itouch.Also use the same ios system with iphone and ipad.

I once test the power sequence of ipad 2 use the dialog semiconductor PMU.It's very hard when first test this.The datasheet is very long.

Power management is very critical for this battery powered system.I need charge my smart phone everyday which is samsung galaxy r.

Ipad is the largest iphone without telephone capacity.

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tthappy

9/23/2012 8:58 AM EDT

Smartphone war between those giants is very wonderful in the world.

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SandunDhammika

9/23/2012 12:08 PM EDT

thanks had a nice reading.

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Ed608

9/24/2012 1:17 PM EDT

Why does it take multiple pages to read EE Times web articles? This one is 21 pages long!!! Come on EE Times, put the entire article on 1 web page and save us the unnecessary clicking. I know using the 'print' button will put everything on one page, but why do we need to do this extra step for every article?

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danlutes

9/24/2012 3:22 PM EDT

21 pages of advertising!

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goodput

9/26/2012 7:22 PM EDT

I was wondering if maybe the author has a job application in at apple. Unfortunately, now brainwashed fanboys are going to be able to back-up their nonsense with "the EETimes agrees with my position."

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bnowak

2/6/2013 2:54 PM EST

Another example of how reading comprehension and being an android sheep don’t mix well together.
Go spill your anti-apple diatribe on twitter or fb, wannabe hipster.

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elPresidente

9/24/2012 5:19 PM EDT

"The iPhone 5 is touted by many as the most innovative iPhone since the original" The most innovative thing Apple could do with an iPhone is thumb a nose at Jobs' corpse and make it run Flash - and they still haven't done it

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GREAT-Terry

9/25/2012 6:47 AM EDT

Interesting to know that the A6 indeed is so small. I hope to see more detail found with the A6 investigation. Will the ARM core used by Apple by totally different from anybody else?

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chanj

9/26/2012 12:27 PM EDT

What interesting to me is the retina display. Why doesn't Apple go all the way to 720 instead of 640? If so, the number of content available w/o resizing is a lot more. Well! I assume A6 is capable to render 720 content and there is little concern of storage.

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Hiramalik

9/27/2012 7:56 AM EDT

I really like Iphone5 but Samsung galaxy is giving a tough competition.
http://hiring.rozee.pk/ is a Employment Agency

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William Miller

10/2/2012 8:14 AM EDT

I wasn't impressed by the new iPhone.. Latest Samsung seems to be much better!

David

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maaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

10/2/2012 2:22 PM EDT

Hy i am broad. it is my blog visit here and enjoy www.electricalapps.blogspot.com

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truekop

10/6/2012 5:10 PM EDT

@goafrit i think the mems microphone is from Analog Devices, not from ST or Knowles. I may be wrong, I found that information in some forum.

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truekop

10/6/2012 5:18 PM EDT

@goafrit,Dylan, This was the article which speculated ADI has the MEMS microphone socket in iphone5.
http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2012/analog-devices-still-crawling-along-adi-lltc-onnn-mxim0823.aspx#axzz28YWP4WEl

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blacklepeard

10/10/2012 6:06 AM EDT


There is three MEMS microphone in i-phone5.

I checked two MEMS Part no.

The first of three microphones comes out of the iPhone 5 along with the Lightning connector assembly.

It is safe to assume that the microphone located at the bottom front of the device is used for voice commands and voice calls.

PART NO NE2606 MEMS microphone seems to be in digital microphone
from Analog Devices or AAC.

If you know a more detailed information , sharing reveal.


The rear-facing microphone partners up with the rear-facing camera for recording video, and is also used for canceling out background noise when on calls.

Part no S949 369S MEMS microphone is similar to Knowles MIC Part no. (Analog)

and the other MIC information i don't get.

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Ted8

3/4/2013 5:00 PM EST

Was it put back together? ;-)

How about a tearup!

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