Technology insights company, Chipworks, has provided a comprehensive teardown of Apple’s new iPhone 7. Many have wondered which company’s have aided in the development of Apple’s new device and Apple as per usual has been mum on the details. Fortunately, Chipwork’s teardown reveals many of these key components of the device, namely the latest processor and camera options that have been touted features since the iPhone 7’s release.
On the processor front, it looks like Intel has provided the new A1778 chip. Rumors regarding Intel’s work on the phone have been circulating for a while and those seem to have been substantiated with this latest revelation from the teardown. Chipworks goes further and reveals that they also found an entire Intel mobile platform within the device, with Intel providing not only the processor, but two RF transceivers, the baseband modem, and the (RF) power management IC.
Moving to the phone’s cameras, the iPhone 7 has updates for both it’s rear-facing iSight Camera and front-facing Facetime Camera. The iSight camera has a larger f/1.8 aperture, as compared to the f/2.2 aperture used for the iPhone 6s/6s Plus. The 10.6mm x 9.8mm x 5.7mm thick camera module also featurs optical image stabilization and a six-element lenses. Although the 12MP resolution and 1.22 µm pixel pitch hasn’t changed, the iSights camera chip is advertised as being 60% faster and 30% more efficient than its predecessor. The 12MP chip features a Bayer RGB color filter array and embedded phase detection autofocus. The camera chip was sourced from Sony and fabricated using its Exmor RS technology platform.
The iPhone 7’s FaceTime Camera has been bumped up to 7MP. The front-facing camera is 6.8mm x 6.0mm x 4.3mm thick and also contains a Sony Exmor RS chip. Chipworks’ prelimary analysis reveals a 1.0 µm pixel pitch Bayer RGB color filter array.
See a full breakdown of Chipwork’s findings by visiting their website here.