Circuits in Apple's iPhone charger are 'surprisingly complex and innovative'
A closer look at the wall charger that Apple ships with its iPhone has found that the hardware includes better and safer components than typical chargers.
An exhaustive analysis of the iPhone charger was conducted by Ken Shirriff (via Gizmodo), revealing that Apple utilizes a "surprisingly complex and innovative" circuit to convert AC input between 100 and 240 volts to 5 watts of smooth 5 volt power.
""Apple's power adapter is clearly a high-quality power supply designed to produce carefully filtered power," he wrote. "Apple has obviously gone to extra effort to reduce EMI interference, probably to keep the charger from interfering with the touchscreen.
"When I opened the charger up, I expected to find a standard design, but I've compared the charger to the Samsung charger and several other high-quality industry designs, and Apple goes beyond these designs in several ways."
One of Apple's main concerns with the design of its charger is safety. Shirriff found that Apple employs "super-strong AC prongs," as well as a "complex over-temperature / over-voltage shutdown circuit."
In particular, the strong charger prongs were likely prompted by a recall Apple initiated in 2008 for iPhone 3G USB power adapters. The recall began after Apple found that "certain conditions" could cause the prongs to snap off when the adapter is pulled from a wall outlet, potentially creating a shock for those who might touch an exposed connection.
Shirriff found that Apple's new and improve prongs are considerably more difficult to remove than counterfeit devices and even Samsung's chargers. Apple's prongs refused to budge even when they were pulled using pliers.
"They have large metal flanges embedded in the plastic of the case, so there's no way a prong can come loose short of the destruction of the charter," he said, adding: "I'm impressed with the effort Apple put into making the charger more safe after the recall."
The teardown also found that Apple's charging circuits pack an impressive amount of complexity into a size smaller than one inch. In all, the charger crams most of the components into a printed circuit board that is about the size of a quarter.
Even with superior components and greater safety, Shirriff speculated that Apple's charger is still sold for "almost all profit." Apple's higher-quality parts probably cost the company about a dollar extra, but the charger sells for about $20 more than similar competing options.
An exhaustive analysis of the iPhone charger was conducted by Ken Shirriff (via Gizmodo), revealing that Apple utilizes a "surprisingly complex and innovative" circuit to convert AC input between 100 and 240 volts to 5 watts of smooth 5 volt power.
""Apple's power adapter is clearly a high-quality power supply designed to produce carefully filtered power," he wrote. "Apple has obviously gone to extra effort to reduce EMI interference, probably to keep the charger from interfering with the touchscreen.
"When I opened the charger up, I expected to find a standard design, but I've compared the charger to the Samsung charger and several other high-quality industry designs, and Apple goes beyond these designs in several ways."
One of Apple's main concerns with the design of its charger is safety. Shirriff found that Apple employs "super-strong AC prongs," as well as a "complex over-temperature / over-voltage shutdown circuit."
In particular, the strong charger prongs were likely prompted by a recall Apple initiated in 2008 for iPhone 3G USB power adapters. The recall began after Apple found that "certain conditions" could cause the prongs to snap off when the adapter is pulled from a wall outlet, potentially creating a shock for those who might touch an exposed connection.
Shirriff found that Apple's new and improve prongs are considerably more difficult to remove than counterfeit devices and even Samsung's chargers. Apple's prongs refused to budge even when they were pulled using pliers.
"They have large metal flanges embedded in the plastic of the case, so there's no way a prong can come loose short of the destruction of the charter," he said, adding: "I'm impressed with the effort Apple put into making the charger more safe after the recall."
The teardown also found that Apple's charging circuits pack an impressive amount of complexity into a size smaller than one inch. In all, the charger crams most of the components into a printed circuit board that is about the size of a quarter.
Even with superior components and greater safety, Shirriff speculated that Apple's charger is still sold for "almost all profit." Apple's higher-quality parts probably cost the company about a dollar extra, but the charger sells for about $20 more than similar competing options.
Comments
This is blatant copyright infringement! Samsung should sue over this! All Apple did was change the color of the…
Oh, wait.
On a more on-topic note, hey, Apple, how about a recall and replacement of the AA chargers you make? The batteries only ever charge to 60-80%.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
A closer look at the wall charger that Apple ships with its iPhone has found that the hardware includes better and safer components than typical chargers.
So, you are saying they should be sued any day now...?
WOW, talk about a cutting-edge, innovative company!! They use mustard seeds and rice as charger components. I've heard of an electric sparking pickle and a potato powering a light bulb but grains and seeds regulating hundreds of volts in a power adapter?....who woulda thunk?
That charger circuit board says July 31,08 which if that is the date, this design has been around awhile...and someone finally got around to a teardown? Perhaps Samsung did their own teardown to see what was in there, but decided not to copy it...for whatever reason. I'm sure people around here will offer an opinion on that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dickprinter
They use mustard seeds and rice as charger components.
That was an initiative taken in a response to Greenpeace's condemnation of not enough organic components in their circuit boards
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dickprinter
WOW, talk about a cutting-edge, innovative company!! They use mustard seeds and rice as charger components. I've heard of an electric sparking pickle and a potato powering a light bulb but grains and seeds regulating hundreds of volts in a power adapter?....who woulda thunk?
Haven't you heard about Apple's golden master seeds? Apparently the "surprisingly complex and innovative" charger employs software that Apple has codenamed "Mustard" in the version displayed. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/10/04/apple_releases_golden_master_build_of_ios_5_to_developers.html
My guess is that the location tracking software Apple uses to develop a crowd-sourced traffic service is embedded in the charger and codenamed "Mustard." You can see in the quote below that Apple even discusses the "fine grain" control over location services. Considering Apple uses rice grain this is almost certainly a charger from the Japanese version of the iPhone. My wife even assured me that the rice in the image is Oryza sativa var. japonica.
"In addition, any application which has used location within the last 24 hours is shown, with an indicator in settings. So a user can know which applications that a user has approved for location, have actually used location recently. We think this is incredibly fine grain and the best out there."
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/04/27/steve_jobs_outlines_apples_efforts_to_clarify_iphone_location_tracking_issue.html
Quote:
Originally Posted by mstone
That charger circuit board says July 31,08 which if that is the date, this design has been around awhile...and someone finally got around to a teardown? Perhaps Samsung did their own teardown to see what was in there, but decided not to copy it...for whatever reason. I'm sure people around here will offer an opinion on that.
Slow news day.
*Thumbs Up*
(I can't promote your comment using an iDevice so I am force to create a new reply to do it.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
On a more on-topic note, hey, Apple, how about a recall and replacement of the AA chargers you make? The batteries only ever charge to 60-80%.
I think you will find that all NiMH chargers can only charge to 80% of the capacity of an alkaline cell, mainly because the voltage of an alkaline in 1.5 volts and that of a NiMH cell is 1.2 volts, which is about 80% of the voltage.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dickprinter
WOW, talk about a cutting-edge, innovative company!! They use mustard seeds and rice as charger components. I've heard of an electric sparking pickle and a potato powering a light bulb but grains and seeds regulating hundreds of volts in a power adapter?....who woulda thunk?
Just some leftover lunch from the factory....
Why is this news now? Apple already produces figures on efficiency and idle power consumption (0.25W) for the iPhone charger which is ok
http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/iPhone4S_Product_Environmental_Report_2011.pdf
and the iPad which is excellent (0.09W idle)
http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/iPad2_Product_Environmental_Report_2012.pdf
Sorry... have to do the obligatory "Now wait for Samescam to copy the charger exactly, and say it was just a natural evolution and not copying".
$50 that Samsung will insert a mustard seed onto their circuit board thinking that's what Apple was doing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by myapplelove
I guess that's why they sell them at 500% margins, must be the surprisingly complex and innovative electronics. Pass the mustard please.
You get one free with every iPhone.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ScartArt
Why is this news now? Apple already produces figures on efficiency and idle power consumption (0.25W) for the iPhone charger which is ok
http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/iPhone4S_Product_Environmental_Report_2011.pdf
and the iPad which is excellent (0.09W idle)
http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/iPad2_Product_Environmental_Report_2012.pdf
Um, because it's not an article on efficiency and idle power consumption, but rather the result of a tear down someone did revealing unexpected levels of engineering complexity and quality?
So you think that the low idle power consumption and efficiency magically appeared? Or does it make sense that it's due to the complexity and quality of the device?
Quote:
Originally Posted by efithian@mac.com
I think you will find that all NiMH chargers can only charge to 80% of the capacity of an alkaline cell, mainly because the voltage of an alkaline in 1.5 volts and that of a NiMH cell is 1.2 volts, which is about 80% of the voltage.
What are you talking about? What does the nominal voltage of a cell have to do with the cell's capacity? A charger only charging a cell to 80% of its capacity has nothing to do with the cell's voltage. Furthermore, a charger designed only for NiMH cells should not be used to charge alkaline cells.
Next up - the Apple seed charger (you heard it here first).
Because the brains needed to design it were completely free! They didn't even have to make any prototypes, invest in manufacturing processes, nothing! The price Apple pay is always just the cost of the parts, nothing else! They don't even have to spend time testing these things!
On the other hand: No other company spends anything on R&D! The R is observe Apple's successful products, and the D consists of price fixing and avoiding litigation!
/sarc
So um just not all profit for anyone really. We probably pay too much. Noone pays enough though. Otherwise those factories wouldn't be in china now, would they? The devaluing of design into "everything is just made from parts that already exist" is the logic of a fool.
I dunno about the 85% claim, but this thread says it's all normal.