A few new details have surfaced about the apparent “Phosphorous” sensor mentioned yesterday.
Per MacRumors, Weibo user GeekBar continued his leaks of claimed wiring schematics of iPhone 6 components with a new “Phosphorus” component that was interpreted as the next-generation version of Apple’s M7 co-processor. The M7 collects and tracks motion data from various sensors in the iPhone 5s, iPad Air, and Retina iPad mini, and with the iPhone 6 rumored to be including a number of new health- and fitness-related sensors, a more powerful version of the M7 seems possible for the new device.
According to MacRumors forum poster leecbaker, who is clearly familiar with these types of components, the item depicted in an accompanying schematic is not a next-generation M7 and actually appears to be a barometric pressure sensor. The iPhone 6 has been rumored to include a number of new environmental sensors such as an atmospheric pressure sensor.
Leecbaker added the following comments regarding the component:
“The chip pictured has the part number BMP282. I’m 99.99% sure this is a Bosch barometric pressure sensor, similar to this part BMP280. Variants of one part often have slightly different part numbers- if Apple got Bosch to customize the chip for them with different packaging, or a slightly different measurement range, that would explain the difference in part number.”
leecbaker goes on to highlight a number of applications for that Bosch pressure sensor, including GPS and indoor/outdoor navigation enhancement, weather forecasting, altimetry, and spirometry, the lung function measurements that were added to Apple’s Health app in a recent iOS 8 beta.
Another MacRumors poster, kdarling, corroborates leecbaker’s conclusions, noting that the pins on the Bosch sensor match those outlined in the schematic. He also notes that the BMP series is limited to pressure sensing and does not include the humidity and temperature sensing capabilities found in Bosch’s BME series of sensors.
The new information could point towards the component serving a more barometric function than the long-rumored health-related functions.
Still, it’s only a few weeks until Apple’s rumored release of the iPhone 6, which will reveal what’s truly inside the new handset.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.