Thursday, June 24, 2010
You could call the new Apple iPhone 4 an iPad Nano because it uses as many as six chips from the popular Apple tablet, according to analysts from UBM TechInsights that have done a teardown of the new smartphone. STMicroelectronics won a coveted design win for its MEMS gyro in the handset.
The teardown specialist is preparing a report on the iPhone 4. UBM TechInsights is a division of United Business Media, the publisher of EE Times.
Like the iPad, iPhone 4 uses Apple's A4 as its applications processor. It also uses a Broadcom Bluetooth FM radio combo chip (the BCM4329), Broadcom GPS device (the BCM4750) and Cirrus Logic audio codec (the 338S0589). The iPad and iPhone 4 also share in common two memory chips—a Samsung 256 Gbit NAND flash device (the K9TFG08U5M) and a combo device from Numonyx.
"If you are a supply chain guy negotiating for lowest price, you know these chips have millions of iPad sockets and now millions more for the iPhone 4," said Steve Bitton, a product manager with UBM TechInsights working on the iPhone 4 teardown.
At the launch of the iPhone 4 in June, Apple confirmed it was one of the first smartphones to use a MEMS gyro.
The iPhone 4 is the first to use the ST Micro L3G4200D three-axis MEMS gyro. It offers digital output which eliminates the need for conversion circuits needed for devices that output analog signals.
"Going with the ST device makes a lot of sense since they also use an ST three-axis accelerometer [the STM33DH]," said Bitton.
Apple is driving a new motion API based on the use of the gyro, accelerometer and a digital compass. It will be interesting to see whether application developers make use of the gyro which is only available on the iPhone 4, forcing them to create different versions of their code for other Apple products, he added.
"I fully expect a gyroscope enabled iPad in the near future," said Bitton. "Looking at the iPad PCB, there is space for a 4mm x 4mm device right next to the accelerometer—that's the size of the ST L3G4200D," he said.
The phone's front-facing five-Mpixel camera is either the OV5650 or the OV5653 based on specifications and preliminary die photos inspection. The image sensors have appeared in handsets the group has examined, however it is a relatively modern choice compared to image sensors in past iPhones, and it supports backside illumination.
"Typically Apple uses older image sensors to save a few dollars," said Bitton.
The use of three Skyworks analog front-end communications modules in the iPhone 4 is more true to Apple's penchant for older, less integrated parts. The three modules support separate GSM/GPRS, WCDMA and Euro-Asia band cellular radios.
UBM TechInsights published an initial analysis of the A4 processor earlier this year. They confirmed in May the chip contains an ARM Cortex A8 core designed and fabricated by Samsung.
Also in May they estimated the iPhone 4 would have bill of materials cost of as much as $170.
By: DocMemory Copyright © 2023 CST, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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