14 DAY TRIAL // The iPhone 4 teardown, likely the most anticipated of all for fans of iFixit’s activities, is finally complete. The tech-savvy team was able to document every major change Apple made, with numerous interesting findings being dished out for Apple fanatics. Those who own an iPhone are not encouraged to follow in the footsteps of iFixit, even though some of the steps described in the iPhone 4 teardown seem simple. iPhones are to be opened only by experts.
The teardown begins with noted upgrades from the iPhone 3GS, which include a redesigned glass & stainless steel body that shaves 3.5 mm off the width and 3 mm on the thickness of the device. The retina display features twice the pixel density of the 3GS, iFixit acknowledges, and notes the pre-installed iOS 4, and 5 MP, 720p capturing rear-facing and VGA front-facing cameras. “The rugged stainless steel bezels around the iPhone 4's perimeter double as both structural supports and antennas to boost reception,” it adds. An interesting find - the storage capacity is not specified on the outer back side of the iPhone 4. The device reportedly has an actual capacity of 29.06 GB, which also needs to hold the 300MB OS.
By removing the screws at the bottom of the device, the tinkerers were able to release the rear case, rather than the front glass (as with previous iPhone models). The teardown revealed that the inside of the device was dominated by the 3.7V 1420 mAh Li-Polymer battery, which allegedly allows for up to seven hours of talk time on 3G or up to 14 hours on 2G.
Other differences between this iPhone and its predecessor lie with the battery connector. The battery itself is not soldered to the logic board, which the technicians say is heavily embedded under wires and EMI shields. iFixit also unscrews what is now confirmed as the 512MB RAM module.
The iPhone 4's vibrator motor is placed in the top-right corner of the device’s housing. More to the middle is a rear-facing 5 MP camera with 720p video at 30 FPS, tap to focus feature, and LED flash, the repair shop notes. iPhone 4 boasts an improved audio chamber that aids in clarifying sounds, and employs dual microphones to help improve audio quality and cancel out background noise.
“In what can only be described as a work of genius, Apple has integrated the UMTS, GSM, GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth antennas into the stainless steel inner frame,” iFixit notes, as it proceeds to document every chip on the logic board, including the A4 processor, manufactured by Samsung. “Replacing the Samsung S5PC100 ARM A8 600 MHz CPU used in the 3GS, the new iPhone uses the 1 GHz ARM Cortex A8 core, much like its bigger sibling, the iPad,” according to the report.
Pointing out to the new 3 axis gyroscope, the repair shop claims it may be designed and manufactured by ST Micro for Apple, noting that the Mac maker may have been the first on the market to nab this component, with the commercial version of this gyroscope being unreleased as of yet. Touting the stainless steel body as “a marvel of gadget engineering,” the gadget-repair experts conclude their teardown, providing a final layout shot of all the components making up the iPhone 4.
