Few hours after the launch of the most appealed Apple iPhone, the iPhone 5S;
Geeks and Technology Enthusiasts from all around the world, had gone
crazy exploring the core, as well as the exterior of the most sold
mobile phone ever.
Just if you don’t know, Apple sold 9 million iPhones during its first
weekend, topping the 5 million record that was set by Apple itself last
year.
Chipworks – A
Company dedicated to exploring the inside of the world’s largest
technology organization, and taking their products apart – had partnered
with
iFixit, and has wasted no time in
reverse-engineering the 5S.
Just like every other Apple’s product, the iPhone 5S is a wonder of
engineering, assembling the most advanced hardware technology of various
vendors, including the new A7 system on a chip, M7 coprocessor and the
most sought-after Touch ID fingerprint authentication hardware into one
of the lightest and thinnest smartphones in the market.
Among the highlights of
iFixit’s teardown
along with Chipworks of the iPhone 5S is a new Sony sensor for the 5S
camera, the technology behind the new fingerprint scanner, the
engineering ability to squeeze in a larger battery — and curiously
there’s no M7 coprocessor to be found in fact it’s really just a tiny,
standard Cortex-M3 core.
While the reverse-engineering is ongoing, Chipworks has already
discovered that the A7 chip is indeed manufactured by Samsung, and not
by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). By tearing down
the 5S, Chipworks was able to determine that the chip was made using
Samsung’s 28nm high-k metal gate technology. It had been rumoured that
the SoC would be produced by TSMC instead of Samsung, but it would seem
that isn’t the case.
As far as the Camera Sensor is concerned, Apple has progressed with a
“new variant” of the Sony sensor, according to iFixit teardwon.
“The markings are consistent with the markings on the camera modules
housing the Sony IMX145 we saw in the iPhone 4s and on the iPhone 5. The
marks on the side of the module are different, but our industry
insiders tell us this is Sony’s again. As Apple has stated the pixel
pitch on this camera is 1.5 µ, this sensor should not be the IMX145, but
a newer variant.”
Not only this, there are so many wonderment coming along as the tearing down is still in progress.
As usual, iFixit is diving down into the most nuanced of details, so
if you’d like to get a complete look at how Apple’s latest flagship is
put together, be sure to check out the
teardown in its entirety.
One thing that really incites me about 5S is that Apple does such an
incredible job in maximizing their battery size in their tiny phone,
they meticulously design the internal components to be as compact as
possible.
In case you were wondering, the iPhone 5C was also torn down this
morning — and, unsurprisingly, there weren’t really any surprises. It’s
just an iPhone 5 wrapped in (very hard) plastic.