Certainly, iPhone X teardowns focused on logic ICs have been there, done that. But the untrodden ground Apple has really broken is in areas such as optical modules, components, MEMS, packaging and PCB technologies, according to Romain Fraux, chief technology officer at System Plus Consulting, Yole Développement’s reverse-engineering partner.

Although experts in the imaging industry are aware of a complex “TrueDepth” module that Apple has devised for its iPhone X, most other details inside the device’s 3D system — chips, components, and all the way down to substrates — remain a deep, dark secret.

EE Times talked to Yole Développement, which completed this week a teardown of Apple iPhone X TrueDepth module in collaboration with its partner, System Plus Consulting. They deduced that silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers are being used in near-infrared (NIR) imaging sensors. They noted that SOI has played a key role in improving the sensitivity of NIR sensors — developed by STMicroelectronics — to meet Apple’s stringent demands.

Yole Developpement, the French research institute, has taken a new analysis of the new iPhone X Truedepth camera module. The Face ID recognition module is based on surprisingly affordable components.

The TrueDepth module is based on five subsystems or modules: infrared camera, proximity sensor, infrared light, RGB camera and so on. point the projector. STMicroelectronics module is at the core of the NIR probe (near infrared), which is made of SOI wafer (Silicon-on-Insulator) by Yolen. This is based on the fact that the SOI layer improves the sensitivity of the infrared sensor.

By choosing a SOI-based infrared sensor, Apple has solved the problem of disturbing effects of surrounding light when trying to identify faces with a 30-inch infrared dot. The SOI sensor has been used to increase the contrast between infrared and the surrounding sunlight.

Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7188-iphonen-face-id-perustuu-edullisiin-komponentteihin

What’s going on inside the iPhone X to justify that hefty $1000 price tag? An iFixit teardown reveals some clever, old-school engineering to pack a lot technology into a small space.

Apple’s new iPhone X has been queued for a night, even though the device pays the cheapest one thousand dollars. X is at the same time the most expensive smartphone in Apple’s history. According to the IHS analysis, the total value of the device components is $ 370.25.

What then costs you? According to IHS, the 5.8-inch AMOLED display with 2436×1125 points – Apple’s first AMOLED phones, by the way – costs $ 110 for its touch screens. Also the back cover of the chassis is an expensive component, it has been charged for $ 61.

Front and rear camera modules cost $ 35. The memory (DRAM and NAND) of the material costs is $ 33.45. The other components of the TrueDepth module (infrared camera, floodlight and point projector) cost only $ 16.60.

According to IHS, Apple retains X’s traditional large debits. For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S8′s material costs are about $ 302 and sold for $ 720.

Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7134-iphone-x-n-osat-maksavat-370-dollaria