> Repairability 6 out of 10
That's a big surprise to me!
iPhone X Teardown
21–30 of 372 posts
Re: iPhone X Teardown
#22Truly 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 ev…
I think Apple explicitly position themselves as the combination of hardware and software and want as much vertical integration as possible... the more hardware they control the better they can make software to run on it.
Re: iPhone X Teardown
#23Truly 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 ev…
Strategically, I think Apple has made a right move by internalising all the hardware designs. That said, as many have suggested, the new iPhone is no more than just another faster, smaller, and costlier.
>That said, as many have suggested, the new iPhone is no more than just another faster, smaller, and costlier.
FaceID is a huge leap and affects how people use their phones. The phone can behave differently if you are looking at it. For example: showing sensitive info only if you're looking at it, and not playing notification sounds as loud (or at all) if you see the notification as it comes in.
Re: iPhone X Teardown
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
Strategically, I think Apple has made a right move by internalising all the hardware designs. That said, as many have suggested, the new iPhone is no more than just another faster, smaller, and costlier.
Doesn't Samsung do that as well though? They make screens, and CPUs and many of the other components in a modern phone, don't they? I'm wondering when Apple will start making their own camera sensors.
Samsung's screens are excellent, but their CPU/GPU performance is a generation (or more) behind Apple. Plus they are way behind in integrated functionality such as motion coprocessor, ai processing, and secure enclave.
I don't know how true this is, but I've heard that the Samsung OLED screen on the iPhone X is significantly better than the ones Samsung puts on it's flagship phones, in color fidelity especially. Partly because of Apple's attention to detail, but also because Samsung's flagship phones ship in much higher volume than the X is expected to.
Re: iPhone X Teardown
#25Re: iPhone X Teardown
#26Amazing 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
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.
Re: iPhone X Teardown
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Strategically, I think Apple has made a right move by internalising all the hardware designs. That said, as many have suggested, the new iPhone is no more than just another faster, smaller, and costlier.
Doesn't Samsung do that as well though? They make screens, and CPUs and many of the other components in a modern phone, don't they? I'm wondering when Apple will start making their own camera sensors.
Not quite. Samsung fabs chips. They may even design chips. But they don’t work ‘together’.
Samsung makes 5 processors and puts them on the open market.
The another part of Samsung buys those chips off the shelf and used them in their phones.
My understanding is the two units don’t work together hand in hand like Apples teams do, they work together the way Samsung and HTC do.
Re: iPhone X Teardown
#28Do 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.
You need to look at it.
Just like when you use it.
Re: iPhone X Teardown
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Same buttons There might be a button or two missing…
True, but look at the change phones from ten years pre-iphone vs iPhone. http://www.mobilephonehistory.co.uk/lists/by_year.html Huge change. But after Apple nailed the modern smartphone design on the first try, ten years later it is remarkably unchanged.
Remarkably, yes. But this release removing the biggest, most used, iconic button might not be the ideal moment to claim "same buttons!"
Re: iPhone X Teardown
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Doesn't Samsung do that as well though? They make screens, and CPUs and many of the other components in a modern phone, don't they? I'm wondering when Apple will start making their own camera sensors.
Samsung's screens are excellent, but their CPU/GPU performance is a generation (or more) behind Apple. Plus they are way behind in integrated functionality such as motion coprocessor, ai processing, and secure enclave. I don't know how true this is, but I've heard that the Samsung OLED screen on the iPhone X is significantly better than the ones Samsung puts on it's flagship phones, in color fidelity especially. Part…
I can believe it. The quality is all about cost. What level of rejected units can you accept for price $X? If Apple can pay more (due to cost, scale, or just where the price of the phone is allocated between parts) they can buy a better screen.