iPhone4 teardown shows highly integrated RF front end

Bill of Materials of $187.51 says iSuppli  with breakdown of suppliers

By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk

The break down of the iPhone 4 shows that this generation has the same cost of components as previous devices, according to iSuppli’s Teardown Analysis service. The 16Gbyte version of the iPhone 4 carries a BOM of $187.51, based on a preliminary cost estimate derived from a physical teardown of the product.

“Just as it did with the iPad, Apple has thrown away the electronics playbook with the iPhone 4, reaching new heights in terms of industrial design, electronics integration and user interface,” said Kevin Keller, principal analyst, teardown services, for iSuppli. “However, the BOM of the fourth-generation model closely aligns with those of previous iPhones. With the iPhone maintaining its existing pricing, Apple will be able to maintain the prodigious margins that have allowed it to build up a colossal cash reserve—one whose size is exceeded only by Microsoft.”

iSuppli estimated the BOM of the 3GS in 2009 at $170.80; the 3G in 2008 at $166.31 and the first iPhone in 2007 at $217.73.

The attached figure presents the results of iSuppli’s preliminary teardown estimate. Please note that the BOM accounts only for hardware costs and does not include other expenses such as manufacturing, software, marketing, distribution and royalties and licensing fees.

Housing complex

One of the most apparent examples of the iPhone 4’s design innovation is its completely redesigned housing. Unlike the unibody housing of previous models, the iPhone 4’s enclosure is composed of multiple pieces, allowing it to accommodate a considerably larger battery as well as the much-discussed integrated antenna.

“The metal housing of the outer enclosure serves as a physical antenna, a tough task to design and manufacture because antennae pieces have to be insulated from other parts, and yet be rigid around the perimeter,” Keller said. “This adds more complexity and cost, but elegantly uses every possible cubic millimeter of the iPhone for function, and not just form. The tight intertwining of form and function is an area where Apple has always excelled.”

Less is more in wireless

The wireless subsection of the iPhone 4 is far smaller than in previous members of the line because of greatly increased integration of the Radio Frequency (RF) functionality into the core chipset components, despite the presence of an additional air standard: High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), which allows the uploading of bandwidth-intensive HD video.

“Out of the nearly 300 cell phones torn down by iSuppli, the iPhone comes the closest to integrating the entire wireless interface—including all the supporting Radio Frequency (RF) modules—on a single chip,” Keller said. “This further enhances the iPhone 4’s space efficiency and serves as yet another testament to the advanced state of Apple’s design.”

Design winners

The LCD display represents the single most expensive component in the iPhone 4, costing $28.50 and accounting for 15.2 percent of the product’s total BOM. The 3.5-inch display uses advanced Low-Temperature Polysilicon (LTPS) and In-Plane Switching (IPS) technology, and features a 960 by 630 resolution—four times that of the iPhone 3GS.

While the display is not labeled, iSuppli believes the most likely supplier is LG Display. Toshiba Mobile Display (TMD) also could serve as a source for the part.

The next most expensive single component is the NAND-type flash memory. In the 16Gbyte version of the iPhone 4, the NAND costs $27 and accounts for 14.4 percent of the BOM. In the individual iPhone 4 torn down by iSuppli, the NAND flash was supplied by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., although Apple could be employing other sources as well.

Samsung also supplies the next costliest part, the 4Gbits of mobile Double Data Rate (DDR) SDRAM, priced at $13.80, or 7.4 percent of the BOM.

Following on the value ranking is the baseband Integrated Circuit (IC), at $11.72, or 6.3 percent of the BOM. Infineon Technologies is the supplier of this part, iSuppli’s teardown reveals.

Next on the component cost countdown is the A4 applications processor, manufactured by Samsung but using Apple’s Intellectual Property (IP). iSuppli estimates the cost of the A4 at $10.75, or 5.7 percent of the iPhone 4’s BOM.

Other parts and suppliers

Subsequent on the cost list is the capacitive touch screen with reinforced glass, at $10.00, or 5.3 percent of the BOM. While the supplier of the touch screen is not labeled and thus cannot be determined through a teardown analysis, iSuppli believes the source is TPK and/or Balda.

The main camera on the iPhone, a 5-megapixel autofocus device, costs $9.75, and accounts for 5.2 percent of the BOM. Like the touch screen, the camera cannot be identified from a teardown.

The Wi-Fi Bluetooth controller IC, priced at $7.80 and representing 4.2 percent of the BOM, is supplied by Broadcom.

Other parts in the iPhone 4 include:

·          The $5.80 battery, with an unknown supplier

·          NOR flash, supplied by Intel/Numonyx; and Double Data Rate (DDR) mobile DRAM, provided by Elpida Memory, at a combined cost of $2.70.

·          A $2.60 Microelectromechanical (MEMS) gyroscope, supplied by STMicroelectronics

·          Infineon’s $2.33 quad-band GSM/Edge transceiver

·          The $2.03 main power-management IC from Dialog Semiconductor.

·          A Global Positioning System (GPS) chip from Broadcom, costing $1.75

·          Texas Instruments' touch screen controller IC, at $1.23

·          Cirrus Logic’s $1.15 audio codec

·          An e-compass from AKM Semiconductor Inc., at 70 cents

·          The accelerometer, provided by STMicroelectronics, and costing 65 cents

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First standard 1.8in solid state drive modules

SLC and LMC modules to 64Gbytes

By Nick Flaherty  www.flaherty.co.uk
 

Taiwanese component maker Apacer Technology has launched the first modules for 1.8in solid state drives for the latest standard from JEDEC. The MO-300 specification for mSATA SSDs uses a 52-pin gold finger mSATA connector and has the mini PCIe form factor (50.8mmx29.8mm), and so is about 75% smaller than typical 2.5” SATA SSDs
Apacer’s SDMII M1 uses SLC (single-level cell) high-reliability flash memory and follows JEDEC MO-300’s mSATA SSD specification standards in terms of design, size and connector interface. It has a 52-pin gold finger mSATA connector and supports SATA 3.0 Gb/s transmission interface, with a maximum sequential read/write speed of up to 100/100 MB/sec and capacities available in 4GB - 32GB. To be more securely attached to the motherboard, the product features paired screw holes on its bottom, designed to enhance system safety while reducing vibration and shake.
To meet different customer requirements in terms of product cost, Apacer has also launched SDM II M1-M featuring MLC (Multi-Level Cell) flash memory for this product line, with its sequential read/write speed of up to 95/50 MB/sec and capacities available in 4GB - 64GB. In addition, in order to boost the product reliability, SDM II M1 and SDM II M1-M both boast many technological advantages, including Global Wear Leveling, S.M.A.R.T technology, 8-bit/15-bit ECC function and intelligent power failure recovery function. The modules are compliant with the MIL-STD-810F US military standard and mass production of both modules has started.

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• Intel wins top spots in SSD storage drive ranking (macworld.com)

Tokyo Electron launches ATA interface chip to SD card

Supports High-Speed Data UHS-1 interface with up to 104 Mbyte/second at up to 208MHz
Tokyo Electron Device has launched a chip for bridging the latest high-speed interface standard for SD memory cards and Multi-Media Cards (MMCs) and ATA or CompactFlash interfaces. Sample shipments will start in June.
The move to higher image quality in digital devices has led to memory media with greater capacity and higher data transfer speeds, including high-speed continuous shooting function in digital cameras and long-duration recording of full high definition video in digital movie cameras, so the latest standard for SD memory cards defines the UHS-I interface to support higher speeds (SDR50: 50 Mbyte/s, SDR104: 104 Mbyte/s, DDR50: 50Mbyte/s, etc.).
The inrevium TE4302 is a controller chip that supports UHS-I of the latest SD card standard and MMC DDR mode of MMC standard and has a function for bridging between these media interfaces and other interfaces such as ATA and CF. Supporting SDR104 ,which is the highest bus speed mode of the UHS-I, the LSI maximizes data transfer performance with the new generation of UHS-I SD memory cards.
For multiple applications, the host side interface can be configured to connect to a 32-bit or 16-bit synchronous CPU interface instead of ATA or CF. Also, the media interface supports two channels.
Tokyo Electron is aiming the chip at devices that require high-speed data transfer of high-quality video data such as digital cameras, digital video cameras, televisions, and car navigation systems, but the chipcould also be used to add a solid state disk (SSD) capability using SD cards via the ATA interface as it willsupport SD cards up to 2TBytes. HOwever, it does not support embedded boot execution from the disk at this point.

TE4302 Features

• Media interface: 2 channels 
• Bus width: 1/4 bit 
• Supported bus speed modes: SDR104 / SDR50 / SDR25 / SDR12 / DDR50 / High Speed / Default Speed
• Supported memory capacities: SDXC (64GB to 2TB) / SDHC (4GB to 32GB) / SDSC (up to 2GB) 
• Supports Embedded SD Addendum 2.10 (Boot function is not supported)
• Supports 4-bit asynchronous interrupts specified by SDIO specification Ver. 3.00 (not finalized), supports 8-bit bus with Embedded SDIO
  

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• CompactFlash 5.0 specification promises faster speeds, crazy 'theoretical' storage (engadget.com)

mSATA flash drive moves to 32nm

Toshiba Electronics Europe (TEE) has moved to 32nm NAND flash technology for a series of solid state drive (SSD) modules, increasing the capacity and lowering the cost for portable devices. The SG2 modules come in two types, one based on the new low-profile mini-SATA (mSATA) interface standard and the other a Half-Slim type, which uses a SATA connector. The drives are available in 30GB and 62GB modules. Volume production will start in October.
The two types of modules, each smaller than a business card, provide greater design flexibility and save space and cost compared to SSDs with hard disk drive form factors and cases. The 62GB module is only one seventh the volume and one eighth the weight of a 2.5-inch form factor SSD, and consumes half the power. With interface speeds up to 3Gbit/s, a maximum sequential read speed of 180MByte/s and a maximum sequential write speed of 70MByte/s,the modules will help bring the performance advantages of SSDs to notebooks, portable electronics and embedded systems. An advanced controller features a translation mode, which enables any drive configuration, and the drive supports 28-bit LBA (Logical Block Address) mode commands and 48-bit LBA mode commands. Multi-word DMA, Ultra-DMA modes and Advanced PIO commands are supported. The drives have an optional capability for secure Full Disk Encryption (FDE) backup that prevents unauthorized data access.
Industry analyst IDC expects mini-notebook shipments to grow at an annual average of around 15% from 2009 to 2013, and, PC manufacturers are looking for SSDs that combine small size with higher storage capacities and advanced performance.

The mSATA modules use the popular SATA interface in a small form factor module measuring 1.18 in. x 0.19 in. x 2 in. (30mm x 4.75mm x 50.95mm) that connects to the system board using the low profile SATA connector. Adaptive Power Mode and SATA Device Initiated Power Management typically reduce power consumption to less than half of the Read power level when the device is in idle, standby or sleep mode.
The Half-Slim SATA II modules feature a SATA connector, measure 1.18 in. x 0.19 in. x 2 in. (54mm x 4 mm x 39mm). The Half-Slim SATA II modules have the same SATA connector used on 2.5-inch HDD and SDD form factors. Thus, this smaller form factor can easily be used in applications designed to use 2.5-inch storage form factors. The Half Slim is also compliant to JEDEC SFF 8156.

iPhone shortage has industry impact

The launch of the iPhone in China is having a significant impact on other parts of the market, particularly the supply of NAND flash memory chips.
Digitimes reports Taiwan-based memory module houses seeing a serious shortage of the chips.
Samsung Electronics has informed Taiwan module makers that it will halve its NAND flash supply to them in September, and Micron Technology has also told some of its downstream customers that no NAND flash chips are available, it says from sources. Toshiba and Hynix Semiconductor are also giving priority to Apple, and are offering limited supply to the spot market, the sources added.
The average spot price of 16Gb multi-level cell (MLC) chips rose 0.85% to close at US$5.17 on September 11, and the 32Gb part was up 0.5% to US$7.13, according to DRAMeXchange. In the contract market, average pricing for 16Gb chips climbed 7.2% to US$4.48 in the first half of September, and 32Gb went up 4.3% to US$6.80.

64Gbyte high speed memory cards ship in November

Toshiba is planning to ship a new generation of high speed 64Gbyte memory cards aimed at portable multimedia applications to OEMs in November. The new cards uses the SDXC specification with write times of 35Mbytes/s, allowing 2.4GB of video data to download in only 70 seconds and opening up a viable low power system memory.
The new SDXC and new 32Gbyte and 16Gbyte SDHC Memory Cards are the world’s first memory cards compliant with the SD Memory Card Standard Ver. 3.00, UHS104, which brings a new level of high speed read and write speeds to NAND flash based memory cards: a maximum write speed of 35MByte per second, and a read speed of 60MByte per second.
SDXC Memory Card is the next-generation SD Memory Card standard defined by the SD Association in April 2009, in order to meet the ever-growing demand for high-capacity memory media, offering higher transfer rates for content rich storage applications. The new SDXC Memory Card Standard applies to cards with capacities over 32GB and up to 2Terabytes compared to the SDHC standard, which applies to cards with capacities from 4GB to 32GB. Like the move from SD to SDHC, the new cards are only compatible with SDXC readers, not existing SDHC systems.
UHS 104 is the new ultra high speed interface that delivers data at a rate of 104MB/ sec. It is the highest standard in the new SD Memory Card Standard Ver. 3.00.
For a picture see the embedded blog.