Steps 1–16: iPhone 3GS Teardown
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Step 9
Here's the fabled "Do not remove" sticker. It didn't stop us last year, and it's certainly not going to stop us this year.
Step 10
Removing the logic board. Like the 3G, there is a single large PCB with all components.
Step 11
The main logic board. There's a lot packed in here. Here's a high-res image of this shot.
The Apple-logo chip is the primary Samsung ARM processor.
The 16 GB of Toshiba flash are now on the front of the board, just below the Samsung ARM.
phoneWreck sent us a great component diagram (second picture). They performed a thorough chip analysis of the iPhone 3GS, so check out their site!
Step 12
The other side of the logic board. You can see the battery contact pads in the lower right corner. Apple was again kind enough to not solder the battery to the logic board.
Here's a high-res image of this shot.
Step 13
Apple promises improved battery life with the 3GS. The battery is listed as 3.7V and 4.51 Whr. This comes out to 1219 mAh, compared to 1150 mAh on the 3G. That's only a 6% increase.
Step 14
Video recording is a long-overdue feature of the iPhone 3GS. The 3GS records video at 640x480 resolution and 30 fps.
The video recording quality appears acceptable, although not exceptional. You can see a video (taken using another iPhone 3GS) of us opening the phone.
Step 15
The 3GS offers Voice Control. We're not sure yet why this feature couldn't be added via software to earlier iPhones. Perhaps the voice recognition requires a better microphone than in earlier iPhones or a lot of processing power, or maybe Apple just wanted to differentiate the 3GS.
According to Richard Lai, the "Chinese (Cantonese) voice control works, but took a while to work out the magic words as there is no guide released yet (not out in Hong Kong until early July)." He also tested the "Chinese (Mandarin) and Chinese (Taiwanese), although the latter didn't work as well since [he doesn't] do the accent well."
Step 16
Here's all the parts. We'll continue to perform further analysis, so check back for updates, or follow @ifixit on Twitter.
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Does removing that sticker mean apple wont work on your phone at all, my warranty is already gone
Can i add the new style camera to my 3G phone?
iFixit Staff
Chances are slim to none that the new camera would work in the old iPhone 3G without modifying other hardware.
Where is the Antenna on the 3GS located??
i need to remove the bezel
Does anyone know what that little metal stub in the very upper right hand corner of Step 11 picture does? Is it only meant to tuck behind the bezel to keep the motherboard down during assembly or does it have any function electronically? Mine fell of and I reattached it with a drop of solder underneath and now my PC doesn't recognize my phone. Not sure if it's something else or not.
I believe the antena is at the top left by the headphone jack. But I could be wrong
The Nor chip is listed as (Infineon-36MY1EE) all over the web but i am confused with INTEL it has the i sign on it which INTEL has on it please someone give details about it. Its INFINEON OR INTEL?
The NOR chip wit "i" on it is from Numonyx (Intel and ST Flash Division Spin-off Company)
Very Nice! So what do u think the odds are for droppin a 3Gs board in a 3G? ;) Or is not even worth it
Thanks for the teardown. Are there any distinctive marks on the camera that would shed more light on its origin and specs?
who is the provider for touch screen controller
Thanx mate
firmware issues
the block diagram provided by phonewreck is incomplete and only shows the 3G chips for the RF and excludes the GSM/EDGE components. not a thorough job. they need to redo it.
What about the compass? Is it integrated to GPS or is a dedicated IC?
Can you publish a high res picture of the other side of the logic board showing the open shildings where the bluetooth parts are? I can see two still shielded areas there on the left side and on the top side of the PCB.
As far as the battery itself goes, is there a replacement unit that will fit in the iphone, yet offer greater battery life. The problem I imagine is physical size versus charge density and heat released by the battery.
Any ideas or help?
You guys know who made the image sensor? Trying to figure out if it's OmniVision's TrueFocus camera since DSCs don't even seamlessly macro focus like the iPhone's does.
Nice job!
Sony's DSCs have had that feature for a while now (at least half a year?)
I noticed a new cable connection from the bottom antenna housing on the right. Its one of those small round plugs. It is going into the very bottom right hand side of the main board. Any idea what this is for?
Ah, I missed that. Thanks! You know the model?
Still, I'm wondering how that feature is being crammed into a max 0.4" module height. Surely, there'd be other phones with the same capability. 1/4" 3mp is pretty old hat. EETimes says it's a 3mp OmniVision autofocus module, but that could mean any number of chips including the TrueFocus one.
It just seems that if the DigiTimes rumor is fully true (which 1/2 seems to be), that Apple will be using OmniVision's 5mp TrueFocus also since that's the only one available for the 1/4" form factor (would they really use 1/3"? can it fit?), I'm wondering why they wouldn't use the 3mp version of TrueFocus, too.
PS It looks like there's no curvilinear distortion in the iPhone's pics. Am I just seeing things?
i need more detail on the camera?
is from OmniVision? there are a OV630 image processor?
thanks
http://www.ovt.com/products/truefocus.ph...
Well, EETimes says it's an OmniVision 3mp autofocus.
http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/showArt...
This really doesn't help much, considering the wide variety of abilities inherent in a Wavefront Coded system such as the TrueFocus product line (1/4" 3mp and 1/4" 5mp) and the wide variety of 1/4" 3mps that OmniVision offers. I still can't find a cameraphone-class module that focuses in the way that iPhone does (into and out of macro mode seamlessly), so TrueFocus seems the most logical explanation. Also, this may be poor estimation on my part, but it looks like the iPhone 3gs has no curvilinear distortion, implying TrueFocus again.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2006/0...
PS The 2-chip TrueFocus solution is all but dead. It looks like the 5mp TrueFocus may be adopted by some unnamed future Apple device and Storm 2. Who knows?
Dude, go cut your nails.
Gross...
iFixit Staff
Those are the hands of a dudette :)
Any sign on the circuit boards of the hypothetical DSP that has been proposed as required for the voice control feature?
You guys are awesome. Thanks!
The ARM chip is based on the the Cortex-A8, which includes a powerful DSP called NEON as a built in part of the A8 chip architecture. It doesn't need an external DSP. The A8 and NEON were announced several years ago, you can google more info.
NEON is not a DSP. It's more accurate to describe NEON as a set of SIMD instructions, implemented in a separate but tightly-coupled section of the processor.
I read in another forum that voice control is something quite processor-heavy, so maybe they needed the 600Mhz-piece to pull it off acceptably...
...but that's only what I've read, I have no idea...
what is this part? it appears that i have severed a sodder and am wondering if i can find a replacement.
Thanks for yet another great teardown :)
How easy is it after the breakdown you have already done to replace the rear black plastic case as I still see a lot inside this
Thanks
iFixit Staff
It shouldn't be too hard to replace the rear plastic case at this point. You can look at the iPhone 3G rear case replacement to get an idea of what else needs to be done. However, the bigger problem is finding a rear case to replace yours with. We don't sell them because we can't find any that meet our quality standard. Beware of retailers trying to sell rear panels for the 3G or 3GS "without internal parts" -- those panels are a waste of money, as they will not mate properly with the front panel.
I would like to replace the chrome bezel on my iPhone 3G. Is it easy to detach the old bezel and reattach the new one to the real panel, or is it glued to the frame?
Meh I would love to put a 3GS hardware inside a 1st gen aluminum case :D