Apple's second-gen iPod nano busted open (photos)

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
It was only a matter of time before someone purchased one of Apple Computer's new iPod nano digital music players only to bust it open and reveal its guts.



You can thank the guys over at iFixIt for being one of the first to do so on Thursday. The online Mac and iPod parts reseller has posted to its Web site a photo-illustrated take apart guide based on the dissection of a blue 4GB second-generation iPod nano.



Internal photos of the player corroborate much of what was already presumed based on previous media reports, particularly that it's being manufactured by Foxconn and that it uses Samsung flash memory and SoCs.



According to iFixit, the nano's new Li-ion polymer battery is thinner but significantly larger than the one included with the first-generation model. Also, the new player's ARM chip is clearly branded with an Apple logo. The numbers on the chip read: "33753291 8701 N02R5Q5 0627 ARM."



In the coming days, several research firms are expected to offer their own iPod nano tear-down reports, which have historically included a part-by-part analysis and estimated bill-of-materials price list.



Click for larger image



Click for larger image

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider


    It was only a matter of time before someone purchased one of Apple Computer's new iPod nano digital music players only to bust it open and reveal its guts.



    You can thank the guys over at iFixIt for being one of the first to do so on Thursday. The online Mac and iPod parts reseller has posted to its Web site a photo-illustrated take apart guide based on the dissection of a blue 4GB second-generation iPod nano.



    Internal photos of the player corroborate much of what was already presumed based on previous media reports, particularly that it's being manufactured by Foxconn and that it uses Samsung flash memory and SoCs.



    According to iFixit, the nano's new Li-ion polymer battery is thinner but significantly larger than the one included with the first-generation model. Also, the new player's ARM chip is clearly branded with an Apple logo. The numbers on the chip read: "33753291 8701 N02R5Q5 0627 ARM."



    In the coming days, several research firms are expected to offer their own iPod nano tear-down reports, which have historically included a part-by-part analysis and estimated bill-of-materials price list.



    Click for larger image



    Click for larger image



    Do not taunt iPod nano.



    Do not eat iPod nano.



    iPod nano may become angry and explode upon contact with water.



  • Reply 2 of 13
    Apparently there's no way of adding another memory chip, like the old G1.
  • Reply 3 of 13
    cool, a transparent nano.
  • Reply 4 of 13
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by brewno


    Apparently there's no way of adding another memory chip, like the old G1.



    Did anyone try?
  • Reply 5 of 13
    now can someone try and fit the 8gb nano guts inside a 1st gen body? that'd be the ultimate.
  • Reply 6 of 13
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by screth


    now can someone try and fit the 8gb nano guts inside a 1st gen body? that'd be the ultimate.



    Seriously. Can Apple please release a non-Black 8GB 2nd generation nano? I hate to admit it, but my goth-industrial days are over.
  • Reply 7 of 13
    MMM... iPod nano circuits pr0n.
  • Reply 8 of 13
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sunilraman


    MMM... iPod nano circuits pr0n.



    You would think of that!
  • Reply 9 of 13
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    The only thing interesting so far, it that the ARM chip has the Apple Logo. In the past that meant that there was a mod to Apple's spec's in the device.
  • Reply 10 of 13
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross


    You would think of that!



    I'm thinking of Futurama where Bender's looking at the centerfold of a robot pr0n magazine at the robot planet and it's all bare circuit diagrams and stuff... and the "robot hell" episode where in his super-good stage he looks at the robot exotic dancing club and then he says "but... those robots don't wear casings...!!"
  • Reply 11 of 13
    eckingecking Posts: 1,588member
    That's a crazy shell the nano has it doesn't even come apart.
  • Reply 12 of 13
    Interesting.



    There's a gap on the bottom left for what appears to be an antenna. Also the JK63RF (in the middle of the first picture) is a well known component of most commodity (non-Nokia) GSM mobile phones, it essentially is the "modem" and radio in one chip, transmitting and receiving digital data from the phone's computer and turning it into radio signals (and receiving radio signals, albeit with the controller chip providing timings and which channel to listen on type information.



    I notice a gap on the bottom just below the "antenna" where you'd normally get some of the more complex RF power-level/regulatory circuitry on a cellphone. That's normally on a daughterboard though, for regulatory reasons.



    So one assumes they're using the same circuit board as for the rumoured iPhone, or rather one of the circuit boards, omitting some of the unncessary optional components such as the regulatory hardware.



    (Ok, the above is a joke. Nobody really bit though.)
  • Reply 13 of 13
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by peharri


    Interesting.



    There's a gap on the bottom left for what appears to be an antenna. Also the JK63RF (in the middle of the first picture) is a well known component of most commodity (non-Nokia) GSM mobile phones, it essentially is the "modem" and radio in one chip, transmitting and receiving digital data from the phone's computer and turning it into radio signals (and receiving radio signals, albeit with the controller chip providing timings and which channel to listen on type information.



    I notice a gap on the bottom just below the "antenna" where you'd normally get some of the more complex RF power-level/regulatory circuitry on a cellphone. That's normally on a daughterboard though, for regulatory reasons.



    So one assumes they're using the same circuit board as for the rumoured iPhone, or rather one of the circuit boards, omitting some of the unncessary optional components such as the regulatory hardware.



    Interesting, if true.



    We'll have to wait until iSupply and others do a take apart.
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