First iPhone 8 teardown reveals few internal design changes [u]
Just hours after iPhone 8 hit store shelves in early launch countries, iFixit tore down Apple's newest smartphones to reveal all the goodies packed within, finding an internal layout largely identical to iPhone 7.
The aftermarket repair firm flew to Australia to pick up this year's dissection subject, a gold iPhone 8 that is externally -- and internally -- very similar to last year's iPhone 7 in rose gold. iFixit's teardown is ongoing as of this writing, but the company has found only a handful of changes.
On the outside, this year's biggest update is a glass back that replaces the aluminum chassis found in iPhone 6, 6s and 7 models. Apple claims the backing incorporates special materials, including a steel and copper structure, to prevent cracking and bending. Driving the decision to move to glass instead of more rigid metal is iPhone's new wireless charging feature.
Based on the Qi standard, Apple's wireless solution is clearly seen in an X-ray image of iPhone 8's rear housing, provided to iFixit by the team at Creative Electron. In the image below, a large charging coil can be seen obscuring the handset's logic board, battery and supporting structures.
At launch, iPhone 8 wireless charging speeds will be comparable to those provided by the included 5-watt wall adapter, though Apple has promised to increase inductive charging rates with a future software update.
The handset's general construction is identical to iPhone 7, though iFixit notes a lack of gaskets on the display's pentalobe screws. The purpose of the screw surrounds is unknown, though some have speculated the design was a waterproofing feature. For 2017, Apple says iPhone is "microscopically sealed" for water and dust resistance.
Further, Apple has elected to use standard Phillips screws to secure internal cables, a change away from tri-point screws found in the iPhone 7 series.
As rumored, iPhone 8 uses an 1,821 milliamp-hour battery, smaller than the 1,960mAh cell found in the iPhone 7. Despite decreased density, Apple estimates iPhone 8 will last just as long on a single charge as its predecessor.
The general internal layout is nearly unchanged from last year, but Apple is employing a few new interconnects and cables to route power and data through the cramped space. Also new is a bracket that appears to secure the large Taptic Engine module.
On the logic board is Apple's A11 Bionic SoC with 2GB of SK Hynix LPDDR4 RAM, a Qualcomm MDM9656 Snapdragon X16 LTE Modem, Skyworks 77366-17 quad-band GSM power amplifier module, NXP secure NFC module, an Apple/USI WiFi/Bluetooth/FM radio module, 64GB of Toshiba NAND flash storage, Qualcomm Gigabit LTE RF transceiver, Broadcom wireless charging IC and a few miscellaneous chips.
Apple's iPhone 8 went up for sale last week and started shipping out to customers on Friday.
Update: iFixit has subsequently torn down an iPhone 8 Plus, finding a layout largely similar to iPhone 7 Plus and hardware tweaks in line with those seen in iPhone 8. Of note, the 8 Plus sports a 10.28 Wh battery, less than the 11.1 Wh unit found in last year's 7 Plus.
The aftermarket repair firm flew to Australia to pick up this year's dissection subject, a gold iPhone 8 that is externally -- and internally -- very similar to last year's iPhone 7 in rose gold. iFixit's teardown is ongoing as of this writing, but the company has found only a handful of changes.
On the outside, this year's biggest update is a glass back that replaces the aluminum chassis found in iPhone 6, 6s and 7 models. Apple claims the backing incorporates special materials, including a steel and copper structure, to prevent cracking and bending. Driving the decision to move to glass instead of more rigid metal is iPhone's new wireless charging feature.
Based on the Qi standard, Apple's wireless solution is clearly seen in an X-ray image of iPhone 8's rear housing, provided to iFixit by the team at Creative Electron. In the image below, a large charging coil can be seen obscuring the handset's logic board, battery and supporting structures.
At launch, iPhone 8 wireless charging speeds will be comparable to those provided by the included 5-watt wall adapter, though Apple has promised to increase inductive charging rates with a future software update.
The handset's general construction is identical to iPhone 7, though iFixit notes a lack of gaskets on the display's pentalobe screws. The purpose of the screw surrounds is unknown, though some have speculated the design was a waterproofing feature. For 2017, Apple says iPhone is "microscopically sealed" for water and dust resistance.
Further, Apple has elected to use standard Phillips screws to secure internal cables, a change away from tri-point screws found in the iPhone 7 series.
As rumored, iPhone 8 uses an 1,821 milliamp-hour battery, smaller than the 1,960mAh cell found in the iPhone 7. Despite decreased density, Apple estimates iPhone 8 will last just as long on a single charge as its predecessor.
The general internal layout is nearly unchanged from last year, but Apple is employing a few new interconnects and cables to route power and data through the cramped space. Also new is a bracket that appears to secure the large Taptic Engine module.
On the logic board is Apple's A11 Bionic SoC with 2GB of SK Hynix LPDDR4 RAM, a Qualcomm MDM9656 Snapdragon X16 LTE Modem, Skyworks 77366-17 quad-band GSM power amplifier module, NXP secure NFC module, an Apple/USI WiFi/Bluetooth/FM radio module, 64GB of Toshiba NAND flash storage, Qualcomm Gigabit LTE RF transceiver, Broadcom wireless charging IC and a few miscellaneous chips.
Apple's iPhone 8 went up for sale last week and started shipping out to customers on Friday.
Update: iFixit has subsequently torn down an iPhone 8 Plus, finding a layout largely similar to iPhone 7 Plus and hardware tweaks in line with those seen in iPhone 8. Of note, the 8 Plus sports a 10.28 Wh battery, less than the 11.1 Wh unit found in last year's 7 Plus.
Comments
(I don't think you think there are as many 'we' people as you selfishly with them to bet). The weight/size/batterylife/speed multi-variate equation is likely quite well tested in the marketplace. bigger means heavier, thicker... I think making a CPU more efficient and super fast is the better knob to adjust.
I would have to think that nearly 100% (or if some are like me, 102%) of Apples' 120,000 employees are iPhone users. I'm sure there are quite a few live in the 'real world,' and have bet their paychecks this is the correct combination of size and battery life for the masses.
Worse, they seek a homogenous culture (Infinite Loop should be called Feedback Loop), like the companies in Japan and Korea as opposed to simple uniform professionalism like most tech companies.
And they call that innovation?
Never mind all the actual changes, if it looks the same or similar, it can't be innovative.
On my 7, the "stereo" speaker still has 80% of the volume and all of the bass come from the bottom, blocking the top one loses you almost nothing. They said the 8 is 25% louder, but is it balanced this time?
Assuming that Apple's estimates are correct, the fact that they have increased battery life with a smaller battery means they've done an admirable job of increasing the efficiency of the phone. No matter what, though, if they had put in a larger battery, the battery life would be longer. The 8's battery is 7% smaller. Apple gave a battery life estimate of 12-14 hours - this means that 7% would add close to an extra hour of battery life. I can think of plenty of times that extra hour would have come in very handy, and all of those battery packs not only add significant bulk to the phone, but will most likely interfere with the wireless charging capabilities.
What gets me is the 'large taptic engine module.' What's the point of this? Supposedly they removed the physical button to make the 7 waterproof. The waterproofing excuse doesn't hold up - There are other phones on the market that are water proof and still have a regular button; if they wanted to, they could have removed the engine, leaving room for other components and/or a larger battery. Given the design of the X, they are planning on ditching the home button totally, so developing the taptic engine to remove the physical button for 2 versions seems odd.