
iPhone X Teardown - hutattedonmyarm
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone%2BX%2BTeardown/98975
======
mankash666
Truly impressive. Smaller, yet faster than the competition. Surprising how
many of the chips are now internal Apple components: 1\. CPU/GPU 2\. Auxiliary
Machine Learning/AI chip 3\. NAND controller 4\. IR Deapth sensor & signal
processing chip 5\. Power management IC (surprising that Apple is doing Analog
IC design too!)

Axiom in the tech world is that "Apple is a software company that builds
hardware". Above is ample evidence of Apple being a hardware-heavy innovation
machine.

A software company building hardware is Google, and it's Pixel phones show

~~~
Illniyar
"Axiom in the tech world is that "Apple is a software company that builds
hardware". "

Is that really a common belief? I know many people who think the opposite -
apple is a hardware company.

In fact Tim Cook went out of his way several times to remind people that apple
isn't a hardware company.

~~~
gurkendoktor
In terms of profits, yes.

But many of us don't buy Apple for the hardware, but because we want to stay
in their software ecosystem. I'd rather use a Nexus running iOS than an iPhone
X running Android, and I'm even more invested in macOS. That Apple builds nice
hardware is a bonus for me (but I'd honestly prefer better software right
now).

I mean, on paper Apple is making more money from hardware than from software,
but how do you measure hardware sales that only happened because of the
software?

~~~
selectodude
Apple has been very serious about how they’re a hardware company vs a software
company for like 30+ years now. Literally the first thing SPJ did after coming
back was kill the Mac clones program. They’re obsessed with the feel of the
hardware in every way. The software is just a platform.

~~~
DRW_
Actually, Steve Jobs emphasised a few times that the reason why Apple was
successful is because of the software.

[https://youtu.be/dEeyaAUCyZs](https://youtu.be/dEeyaAUCyZs)

~~~
godzillabrennus
Judging from how bad the software is getting I’d wager they forgot this.

~~~
jrs95
At least it's not Windows. I'm amazed at how something as basic as Bluetooth
has been completely fucked for me since I got a PC. On no other platform have
my Bose QC35s, AirPods, or wireless Logitech headset had issues. On Windows
10, they hardly work at all. Ironically the only device that works for longer
than a few seconds before losing audio is my AirPods, which I still have to
reconnect frequently to get the audio o actually come through.

~~~
mschuster91
Thats the problem with Windows - it still does not carry a decent Bluetooth
stack and depends on the vendor shipping one. And all of them I have seen so
far are more or less crap.

Linux on the other hand is exclusively Bluez which works fine... but god
forbid you want to do something like BLE communications or more complex sound
stuff, the docs are horrid.

The OS X BT stack is... well I dont have any issues with it per se but it,
too, lacks features like a file explorer or an easy way to send files via BT.

~~~
general_pizza
Hmm, I've got both Bluetooth File Exchange.app and Bluetooth Explorer.app on
my mac which are both from Apple and I think what you're looking for. Not sure
if they came default or when I downloaded the bluetooth dev kit years ago. I
remember using it to transfer mp3s onto a ZTE bar phone back in the day.

------
asteli
This is an engineering masterpiece. The electrical engineer in me is mind-
blown. I love the inter-PCB BGA-style interface. Standoff, connector and
shield all in one component. And the component density is stunning.

Clean internal layout, relatively serviceable, structured light 3D scanning
built in. You can debate whether or not Apple have made good UI decisions, but
the hardware design execution here is superb.

~~~
yodsanklai
I'm just wondering, how does it compare to let say a samsung galaxy S8 in
terms of engineering? on paper, they seem to be pretty similar devices but
Samsung doesn't get nearly as much praise. Is Apple really ahead there?

~~~
igravious
[https://www.ifixit.com/smartphone-
repairability](https://www.ifixit.com/smartphone-repairability)

Check out all their in-depth guides.

Props to the Fairphone 2 for receiving a 10/10 for repairability.

~~~
vanderZwan
Typing this on a Fairphone 2 right now and I'm a pretty happy customer. It's
like the phone equivalent to a thinkpad design where everyone else is using
ultra books. It's interesting to see how these phones prioritise different
things.

Their service is pretty good too by the way. I had a broken bottom module and
when I contacted them was sent a new one the same day. Took a week to get here
because international shipping but that's hardly their fault. Repairs really
was just power down, open phone, unscrew component, put in new one, fasten
screws, boot up phone. Took me fifteen minutes, which felt awesome.

I'm not going to deny that the newest iPhone is both more advanced technology
wide and just gorgeously designed, but in all honesty, smartphones hit a level
of "good enough" a few years ago and it will take quite a fundamental leap in
features for me to really want and upgrade.

The only issue is that the camera in this thing is still frustratingly
sluggish to the point where it feels like a downgrade compared to my iPhone
5s. Maybe the software is partially to blame, I've been looking on fdroid for
replacement apps but none seem faster.

~~~
igravious
Pity about the point 'n shoot frustrations. I wonder is that the camera
hardware or software or a combo of the two. Kind of surprised you went iPhone
to Fairphone, I would have thought that most would be Android refugees.

I hope they sell a shedload, Purism also.

~~~
vanderZwan
I refused smartphones for years until a hand-me-down 4s was forced on my by my
GF, and later was offered a repaired 5s for 100 euros by her brother, so I'm
not the typical iPhone user to begin with ;)

I will admit that the iPhone is a good phone though!

------
pat2man
Amazing to see everything shrink (except for the battery). Reminds me of a
quote referencing Blackberry falling behind the iPhone: "Imagine their
surprise when they disassembled an iPhone for the first time and found that
the phone was battery with a tiny logic board strapped to it."

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2043613](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2043613)

~~~
joering2
The new concept seems to be dual-battery.

I'm sure they investigated designing simply L-shaped battery but for some
reason they decided to go with two batteries instead.

I wonder if its because one is supplying power to some critical circuits while
other one isn't, or since display and battery are #1s replacement on these
phones, they simply run some stats and decided that splitting cells into two
separate battery boxes will help them cut the costs down the line when it will
come to battery replacement.

~~~
Qworg
Manufacturing costs are the most likely reason. Prismatic cells are much less
costly to produce in a rectangular format vs. an L shape.

~~~
joering2
I don't know, but putting 4 cells into one box, versus 2 cells in 2 boxes at
the iPhone scale might be more expensive.

My take is that still less expensive that constant replacement (warranty,
recalls) that they do on daily basis.

~~~
snewk
it could be related to power draw inconsistencies in cells with concave angles

------
marze
The most impressive thing to me is how similar the iPhone X is to the original
iPhone (shown side by side in the second picture).

Ten years ago, Apple totally nailed the design. Same buttons, same speaker
design, same full panel display. Even design work by a company as talented as
Apple, you might expect that a new model ten years into the future may look
quite different, but it looks the same.

~~~
jack6e
> _The most impressive thing to me is how similar the iPhone X is to the
> original iPhone (shown side by side in the second picture)._

And really, how similar every non-notebook/desktop Apple product has been to
each other one. Design-wise, the iPhone was just an iPod with a bigger screen;
iPod touch/nano/other variations are obviously just an iPhone in different
sizes; the watch is just the iPod nano on a wristband; iPad is a bigger
iPhone. Apple hasn't released a fundamentally new design idea in over a
decade.

On the one hand, the consistency of physical design is its own type of
branding and creates solid brand recognition. On the other hand, the UI/UX
that transformed interacting in the digital world from using keyboards and
mice to using our fingers on touch screens is already old. Apple really has no
need to be creative since they are still profiting from their slight
modifications. But the next big, real revolution in personal computing design
and usage will need to be more than a glass rectangle with slightly better
curved edges.

~~~
tqkxzugoaupvwqr
Why do you want them to design their products differently from previous models
just for the sake of it? Apple iterates on their designs. Few/no changes mean
Apple thinks their product is close to perfect (in the context of the
available technology and intended usage).

I much prefer Apple’s iterative and proven designs than other manufacturers’
products that are seemingly designed without experience from previous
generations.

~~~
thomasjudge
Not to mention the equivalent in software, designers forcing new UI's on us
with each major release. Looking at you, MSFT. Especially when those changes
are largely w/r/t what's now trendy, such as the recent iteration in design
towards everything flat.

Not intending to start a design-related flamewar..

------
karpodiem
I've owned various iPhones (starting with the 4 in 2010) and I'm going to take
a serious look at the Pixel 3 in 2018.

Performance is a feature, and I don't see a compelling reason why I should
upgrade my 6S. I have a suspicion that Apple will keep the '6' chassis they've
stuck with since the release of the 6 (6/6S/7/8) at 2GB of memory, and will
continue to do so with the 9 next year. Pixel 2 performance with 4GB of memory
is impressive. And I will not pay $1000 for a phone, that's absurd.

Features I focus on when evaluating a phone - how quickly does the device
unlock? Does it have a fingerprint reader? How quickly can I open the camera
app? How are the photos? (I really hope Android device makers diverge from
Apple and pursue a under the front glass fingerprint reader instead of facial
recognition). I could care less about AI assistants/animojis. Get the basics
down.

Google _still_ has significant QA issues nearly six years after designing
their first phone (Nexus 4) for OEM manufacturing.

RCS
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Communication_Services](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Communication_Services))
still needs to get off the ground. Until then, iMessage will still rule. My
family is familiar with the built in messaging app, and I'm not asking my
parents to use a separate app for texting. RCS will be able to replace
iMessage for us.

Apple is a $875 billion dollar company because they figured out how to do
customer service/QA/hardware and designed an easy to use OS.

I'm not asking Google to focus on ease of use for the OS, just get
QA/service/hardware correct, at a $650 price point.

~~~
legulere
If new devices don’t give you anything new you want, maybe you should just
keep using your phone as long as it keeps working?

~~~
karpodiem
That’s probably what’s going to end up happening.

------
fermienrico
The SIM card holder's size shows its age. It is literally as big as the A11
package.

Such archaic things need to evolve or disappear. What's the status on
electronic SIM? We don't need a piece of plastic that holds a numeric key and
takes up EXPENSIVE real-estate in one of the most densely packed electronic
devices in the world.

Apple doesn't have the leverage to sway the standards?

~~~
foolfoolz
the sim is no piece of plastic. SIM cards are computers! they have a CPU. they
have memory, a file system. they run applets, yes Java applets. sims are one
of the most secure pieces of technology out there, part of the Secure Element
standard. the sim is responsible for a lot of your phones security. lots of
encryption keys live on the sim and nothing can access them at all. I am much
much happier to trust the hardware than software for some of this. smaller
form factors are always coming out for sim, but it's worth the space

~~~
josu
>I am much much happier to trust the hardware than software for some of this

Most SIMs I know are black boxes, with 0 public documentation. Taking into
account that they are issued by telecom companies I don't trust them at all.

~~~
foolfoolz
the reason there are multiple sim manufacturers and SIM cards interop
seamlessly into any device is because they are built entirely on published
standards. there is tons documentation, usually in the form of giant
specifications. look for Secure Element. Java card. global platform. UICC.

------
ikurei
TL;DR: I see that Apple is doing great engineering, but where is this
engineering better than Samsung's? Or is it not?

\---

This was fascinating, but I am not very knowledgable when it comes to hardware
and I have a burning question.

Everybody here seems to think this was a great feat of engineering. I am
looking also at the teardown of the Samsung Galaxy S8. Where is Apple doing a
better work than Samsung? Is it just the fact that Apple are "doing it
themselves" that is impressive? (not implying it isn't.)

The only thing I can see is that the iPhone X seems to devote much more space
to battery, by cramming up all of the components tighter together. Does this
mean the iPhone X will have a better battery life?

I truly have no dog in the fight, and have no interest in starting a flame
war. I'm just curious.

PD: Yeah, the A* CPUs are fantastic, no doubt. But that doesn't show in this
teardown.

~~~
developer2
Basically, this "cramming up all of the components tighter together" is worth
being impressed with. We're at the point in manufacturing where every square
millimetre of space saved on a logic board, or within a collection of
components, is bringing us ever closer to the limit of what we are capable of
producing based on our current understanding of physics.

Aside: I'm excited to see how far technology advances in my lifetime. The
general consensus seems to be that we are approaching some supposed limit. I'm
hoping this turns out to be wrong, and that our technology continues to
experience "horse => car" types of leaps. All I've been reading is that we
only have "faster horses" in our future. With any luck, this kind of narrative
is short-sighted and naive, and we have some incredible technological advances
to look forward to.

~~~
bovine3dom
We're nowhere near the theoretical limit.

Biological brains are much more energy efficient (up to 100,000x depending on
who you ask) than our current offerings, and beyond that one can make an
entropic argument as to how much energy information processing should require,
to which the answer is "not much".

What makes you believe that we are only destined for incremental improvements?

------
nsxwolf
Do you really need to hold it up to your face like I've been seeing? The
reviewers look so awkward and uncomfortable. I was hoping it would see your
face laying on the desk and whatnot.

~~~
valuearb
You need to look at it.

Just like when you use it.

~~~
JustSomeNobody
I can't tell if you're being passive aggressive or not.

Many, many people have pointed out that looking directly at the phone (as
needed by Face ID), is NOT the only way to use a phone. Sometimes one just
wants to glance down at the screen to see a notification. Watch Nilay's review
and you'll see what I mean.

~~~
derefr
You look at the phone to _unlock_ it; notifications still display when the
phone is locked. I believe _waking up_ the phone just involves raising it a
bit (like in the Watch), along with some light-sensor heuristic (like in the
AirPods.) Or, y’know, pressing the sleep button.

~~~
calibration263
You can also wake the phone up now by tapping the display(similar to the
watch). Also it might be configurable in settings but the notification content
is hidden on the X when the phone is locked, after FaceID they become visible.

------
BinaryIdiot
I'm still on the fence about whether this is a great phone or not because I
use every one of my phones a _significant_ amount when not directly looking at
it.

But this hardware is absolutely incredible. I wish there was a clear casing to
the phone. Apple has always done a great job design the internals and clearly
this is no exception.

~~~
manmal
IMO it’s even better suitable than previous iPhones for that situation. A tap
on the display will wake it up and you can start looking at notifications,
swipe to get the camera.. or if you refer to Siri, it’s still a button press.

------
sk2code
Hardware company or Software company, we can always debate about it and choose
whatever we want to say. In few years Apple will be a "Trillion dollar
company" and there won't be any debate or doubt about it.

~~~
zaroth
More like in a few weeks.

------
jaux
> Repairability 6 out of 10

That's a big surprise to me!

~~~
duskwuff
iFixit has historically rated Apple devices rather harshly for their
(non-)repairability. 6/10, from them, is high praise.

~~~
elicash
iPhones have gotten 6's and 7's in recent years.

~~~
abritinthebay
mainly, I think, they realized it's a trend and they can't just give every
single thing 0/10 each time.

------
diggan
Is there another reason than space-saving for the two batteries instead of one
bigger one but L-shaped?

~~~
gbba
Splitting a battery into two cells might mean it can charge twice as fast in
parallel.

~~~
pkulak
Unfortunately, no.

~~~
BinaryIdiot
Hmm, this is what I thought as well. Just like if I have a splitter plugged
into the wall and two USB cables attached I can charge those two devices as
fast as if there was one item plugged in. So why wouldn't this be faster?

~~~
kogepathic
_> Just like if I have a splitter plugged into the wall and two USB cables
attached I can charge those two devices as fast as if there was one item
plugged in. So why wouldn't this be faster?_

Because with your method you are doubling the power.

Imagine you have one charger with a fixed output of 10W (2A @ 5V). Now you
have a USB splitter cable which allows you to plug two devices into the same
charger.

What happens? Most likely both devices will charge at 1A (5W) instead of a
single device charging at 2A (10W). The power output of the charger doesn't
magically increase to 4A (20W) because you plugged in a USB splitter cable.

Increasing the number of battery cells is equivalent to adding more splitter
cables to the charger. The input power doesn't change, but the power to each
cell (device) is decreased proportionally to the number of cells (devices)
drawing power.

~~~
BinaryIdiot
Ah okay that made sense thanks!

------
mcescalante
> If the back glass breaks, you'll be removing every component and replacing
> the entire chassis.

oof, sounds like this is in part because of the "camera nub". I know a number
of people who have had the back glass panel replaced on their iPhones, almost
as many as the front. Sounds like X owners may want to opt for a case or some
extra protection for the back glass and chassis to save the pain of getting
this replaced/repaired, it sure isn't likely to be a DIY project for most.

------
djrogers
I gotta say, that is a beautiful device!

------
mandeepj
Steve Jobs - "People who are really serious about software should make their
own hardware."

~~~
alaaibrahim
That was Alan Kay

Edit: Adding source

[https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&stor...](https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Creative_Think.txt)

~~~
jonknee
To be fair, that wouldn't stop Steve from claiming it was his idea.

~~~
B1FF_PSUVM
"I did not say it."

"You will."

(Oscar Wilde, if memory serves)

------
doe88
It seems this is the second times after the Apple Watch 3 in september that
the Wifi/BT module is branded with the Apple name. Does someone knows if they
have designed their own Wifi/BT chipset or if it is licensed from somebody
else?

~~~
wmeredith
They're def doing something of their own with BT. The airpods use it, but it's
been highly modified.

------
sengork
It is interesting to observe that this teardown has been carried out down
under (in Australia). Maybe it had something to do with the timezones and
release date.

------
synaesthesisx
Does anyone have any more details/teardown on the new front sensor? Curious if
there's a Xilinx chip/FPGA in there....

~~~
CamperBob2
Given the volumes in which these things are produced, I doubt you'll see any
FPGAs. It's full of proprietary ASICs.

------
hamandcheese
> Today, we're taking apart Apple's 18th iteration

That seems a bit exaggerated.

    
    
      Original
      3G
      3GS
      4
      4S
      5 and 5C
      5S
      6 and 6 Plus
      6S, 6S Plus, SE
      7 and 7 Plus
      8, 8 Plus, X
    

I count 11 iterations. 18 total products.

~~~
swang
i don't think it's over-exaggerated at all. over exaggeration would be saying,
"100th iteration."

to them they have to consider each as it's own iteration because they're
picking the device completely apart.

------
Synaesthesia
The video of the infrared dots is quite interesting.

~~~
valine
The iFixit video doesn't show it very clearly. Seeing the dots up close is
crazy:
[https://twitter.com/reckless/status/926466977413128192?ref_s...](https://twitter.com/reckless/status/926466977413128192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fbgr.com%2F2017%2F11%2F03%2Fiphone-
x-face-id-video-infrared%2F)

------
mavhc
iPhone X(Box) 2013:
[https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Xbox+One+Kinect+Teardown/197...](https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Xbox+One+Kinect+Teardown/19725)
2017:
[https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone+X+Teardown/98975?revi...](https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone+X+Teardown/98975?revisionid=HEAD#s182894)

~~~
skeletonjelly
FWIW this is v2 of the Kinect, the X teardown mentions Primesense was bought
after v1 came out.

------
timthelion
I don't understand, when they got rid of the audio jack and added wireless
charging, why does the phone have ports at all? Couldn't they make a port-less
phone?

~~~
mattnewton
Diagnostics, developer experience and backups are all hard to do wirelessly,
but I am sure they are thinking about it.

~~~
moduspol
We (developers) can already build and run wirelessly since a year or so ago,
and iTunes will back up your iPhone wirelessly, too.

It does need to be plugged in once and then enabled, but after that you're off
to the races. We're actually pretty close. It wouldn't surprise me if the next
iPhone had no ports, although they'll probably save that for a non-S year.

