Once again, the lunatics over at iFixit got their mitts on the new iPhone, got to work dissecting it and posted the results faster than anyone could believe it.
And, once again, they found some really cool stuff inside Apple’s newest handset.
Per iFixit’s full teardown report, the repair firm managed to snag a “black and slate” copy of the device in Australia, the first country to see official iPhone 5 availability, within the first hour of sales and proceeded to disassemble the device for its usual comprehensive teardown.
The first steps of revealing the innards of Apple’s most advanced smartphone include removing the small proprietary pentalobe screws that attach the unit’s 4-inch display to the aluminum “uni-body” back casing. A suction cup was used to easily lift the screen assembly away from the rear housing, a departure from the involved removal procedure seen with the iPhone 4 and 4S.
“Compare this to the iPhone 4s, where it took 38 steps to isolate the display assembly, and this iPhone may be the most repairable iPhone we’ve seen in a while,” iFixit wrote.
Next to be removed was the larger 3.8V, 5.45WH battery, which holds slightly more juice than the 3.7V, 5.3Wh part found in the iPhone 4S. In comparison, Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S III uses a 3.8V, 7.98Wh battery.
To the right of the larger power cell is the the logic board, which contains the high-performance A6 chip, baseband system, storage and a litany of other essential components.
With help from Chipworks, the logic board’s packages were identified:
– Skyworks 77352-15 GSM/GPRS/EDGE power amplifier module
– SWUA 147 228 is an RF antenna switch module
– Avago AFEM-7813 dual-band LTE B1/B3 PA+FBAR duplexer module
– Skyworks 77491-158 CDMA power amplifier module
– Avago A5613 ACPM-5613 LTE band 13 power amplifier
– Triquint 666083-1229 WCDMA / HSUPA power amplifier / duplexer module for the UMTS band
– STMicroelectronics LIS331DLH (2233/DSH/GFGHA) ultra low-power, high performance, three-axis linear accelerometer
– Texas Instruments 27C245I touch screen SoC
– Broadcom BCM5976 touchscreen controller
– Apple A6 Application processor
– Qualcomm MDM9615M LTE modem
– RTR8600 Multi-band/mode RF transceiver
According to iFixit, “many of the components that came out with the logic board are held in place with screws and brackets.”
Apparently Apple is very concerned with making sure that all the connectors are firmly seated and won’t rattle lose over time.
On the reverse is Apple’s A6 processor, which is said to be twice as fast as its A5 predecessor. A recent test using the SunSpider JavaScript benchmarking tool confirmed Apple’s new SoC is utilizing a different memory interface than normal ARM Cortex A9 chips as it outperformed identical processors based on the same ARM-patented technology.
The A6 is also though to be Apple’s first attempt at designing an ARM core in-house, however the internal architecture has yet to be investigated.
Wrapping up the teardown is a look at Apple’s new Lightning connector. There has been mixed emotions with the new plug, as the move away from Apple’s 30-pin design means the iPhone 5 may not work with legacy aftermarket accessories without an adapter. The company claims there was no way to make such a thin handset without the new connector, however, and said the standard is expected to be used for foreseeable future.
Overall, iFixit gives the iPhone 5 a “7 out of 10” score for repairability.
Since a video’s worth more than a thousand words, take a gander at what iFixit had to say:
Over on the Asian end of things, iLab Factory (via Mac Otakara) posted the following iPhone 5 teardown video:
Stay tuned for additional details and please let us know what you make of the iPhone 5 in the comments.