Apple iPhone 5 Teardown: Visual Tour
Apple's greatest challenge with the iPhone 5 has to do with its software. Take a look inside the red hot smartphone.
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Apple says it sold more than 5 million iPhone 5 units only three days after the device went on sale.
Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, characterizes demand as "incredible," though investors, accustomed to years of Apple blockbusters, expected sales more along the lines of 8 million to 10 million units over the weekend and have punished Apple's stock accordingly.
Last week, Apple's stock closed above $700 per share for the first time. On Monday, it closed at $690.
Even so, there's no doubt Apple's iPhone 5 will do well. Its has been generally well-reviewed and there haven't been any real hardware issues comparable to the "antennagate" trouble that marred the launch of the iPhone 4. (Some iPhone 5 users are complaining about paint scratches; see iPhone Scuffgate: Every Launch Must Have Scandal.")
Apple's greatest challenge with the iPhone 5 has to do with its software. The iPhone's updated mobile operating system, iOS 6, has elicited criticism for its replacement of Google's map service in Apple's Maps app with Apple's own map data. The company's hardware has, so far, not been tarnished by the controversy.
That's because while Apple Maps compares poorly to Google Maps, its iPhone 5 is undeniably a step up from the iPhone 4S and is at least competitive with Samsung's Galaxy III, if not better, on technical merits.
The iPhone 5 processor, Apple's A6 chip, is fast. It performs about twice as well as the A5 chip in the iPhone 4S, according to Geekbench.
Apple's Retina display screen has grown from 3.5 inches in older models to 4 inches now, which should improve the experience of watching videos.
The iPhone 5 supports LTE wireless networking, which may be both a blessing and a curse: By virtue of its speed, LTE will make activities that involve large volumes of data, like video streaming, more viable, even as it is likely to force more users to run up against the limits of their mobile data plans.
Its battery life is supposed to be improved. In practice, reviewers are saying that battery life is at least as good as the iPhone 4S. That's surprising given LTE's reputation for draining batteries and the growing number of apps that encourage the use of power hungry location services.
And then there's the weight, or lack thereof. The iPhone 5 has a bigger screen but takes up less volume and is lighter. This is what you want in hardware engineering: portable devices that become more portable.
The teardown experts at UBM TechInsights (part of our parent company, UBM) took a look inside an Apple iPhone 5. Dig into our slideshow to see what they found, and get the lowdown on costs and a feature comparison to earlier models.
How can Apple add LTE networking and keep battery life for its iPhone 5 at around 8 to 10 hours of use? A more powerful battery, that's how. It's tall, and thinner, to fit the new phone form factor, and packs a bit more punch: The iPhone 5 battery is rated at 3.8V and 5.45Whr; the iPhone 4S battery is rated at 3.7V and 5.3Whr.
The iPhone 5 screen measures 4 inches diagonally and has a 16:9 aspect ratio, which is well-suited for video. It's a Retina display, also found on the iPhone 4S. The pixel density--326 pixels per inch--makes text and graphics look great, provided developers have bothered to include high-res images with their apps.
The iPhone 5 features an 8-megapixel iSight camera, similar to its predecessor, but 25% smaller. There's a new lens too. It's made of sapphire crystal, which is known for being scratch resistant. Too bad the rest of the iPhone 5 isn't as tough.
Once you strip away the battery and the screen, the iPhone 5's actual innards are relatively small. iPhone 5 Nano, anyone? Maybe next year.
Here you can see the iPhone 5's CPU, an Apple A6 processor, alongside hardware from a number of other component makers, including Broadcom, Elpida, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and STMicroelectronics.
Apple's displeasure with Samsung is widely known. Apple sees Samsung as a copier of its innovations, a charge Samsung has repeatedly denied. It's surprising the two companies are still on speaking terms. The iPhone maker earlier this year won the initial ruling in its patent infringement claim against Samsung and last year acquired flash memory maker Anobit in what appears to be the groundwork for greater independence from Samsung, a supplier of flash memory. But if there's bad blood between the two companies, they still know how to put their differences aside to do business together. According to UBM TechInsights, Samsung appears to have manufactured the A6 chip for Apple.
Most teardowns leave the chip intact. Our friends at UBM TechInsights took their destruction a step further by cutting into the silicon circuitry. In this picture, you can see the three GPUs that make iPhone 5 apps perform so well.
The iPhone 5 starts at $199 in the U.S. with a two-year contract from AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon. Without a contract, the device starts at $649. UBM TechInsights estimates a 16-GB iPhone 5 costs Apple $167.50. Sales of Apple's iPhone account for more than 50% of Apple's revenue and more than 60% of Apple's profits, according to BTIG technology analyst Walter Walter Piecyk.
Here Apple's flagship phone disassembled. Now you're ready for a real challenge, the iPhone factory worker home game. Put it back together.
Here Apple's flagship phone disassembled. Now you're ready for a real challenge, the iPhone factory worker home game. Put it back together.
Apple says it sold more than 5 million iPhone 5 units only three days after the device went on sale.
Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, characterizes demand as "incredible," though investors, accustomed to years of Apple blockbusters, expected sales more along the lines of 8 million to 10 million units over the weekend and have punished Apple's stock accordingly.
Last week, Apple's stock closed above $700 per share for the first time. On Monday, it closed at $690.
Even so, there's no doubt Apple's iPhone 5 will do well. Its has been generally well-reviewed and there haven't been any real hardware issues comparable to the "antennagate" trouble that marred the launch of the iPhone 4. (Some iPhone 5 users are complaining about paint scratches; see iPhone Scuffgate: Every Launch Must Have Scandal.")
Apple's greatest challenge with the iPhone 5 has to do with its software. The iPhone's updated mobile operating system, iOS 6, has elicited criticism for its replacement of Google's map service in Apple's Maps app with Apple's own map data. The company's hardware has, so far, not been tarnished by the controversy.
That's because while Apple Maps compares poorly to Google Maps, its iPhone 5 is undeniably a step up from the iPhone 4S and is at least competitive with Samsung's Galaxy III, if not better, on technical merits.
The iPhone 5 processor, Apple's A6 chip, is fast. It performs about twice as well as the A5 chip in the iPhone 4S, according to Geekbench.
Apple's Retina display screen has grown from 3.5 inches in older models to 4 inches now, which should improve the experience of watching videos.
The iPhone 5 supports LTE wireless networking, which may be both a blessing and a curse: By virtue of its speed, LTE will make activities that involve large volumes of data, like video streaming, more viable, even as it is likely to force more users to run up against the limits of their mobile data plans.
Its battery life is supposed to be improved. In practice, reviewers are saying that battery life is at least as good as the iPhone 4S. That's surprising given LTE's reputation for draining batteries and the growing number of apps that encourage the use of power hungry location services.
And then there's the weight, or lack thereof. The iPhone 5 has a bigger screen but takes up less volume and is lighter. This is what you want in hardware engineering: portable devices that become more portable.
The teardown experts at UBM TechInsights (part of our parent company, UBM) took a look inside an Apple iPhone 5. Dig into our slideshow to see what they found, and get the lowdown on costs and a feature comparison to earlier models.
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