iFixit

Disconnecting the Wi-Fi antenna.

For enough room to disconnect the Wi-Fi antenna on this phone, the ground finger must first be removed. Apple moved this finger out from beneath the battery connector, making battery replacement that much easier.

The Wi-Fi antenna and chip are perhaps the only RF components of the phone that did not receive a revamp. The board utilizes a Broadcom BCM4329 - the same chip found on the GSM iPhone 4. This antenna is nearly identical to the unit found in the GSM iPhone 4.

The speaker chamber and cellular antenna assembly come out easily enough.

After removing a metal shield, a sea of connectors becomes visible.

Thankfully none of them are tricky to disconnect, so disassembly is not especially challenging. With the help of a repair guide to keep screws and pieces straight, repairing this phone shouldn't be too difficult.

The logic board can finally be lifted out of the iPhone.

Verizon iPhone 4 logic board on top.

Although it's the same form factor, this is definitely not the same board. Conspicuously absent is the SIM slot. That's freed up a lot of space for something.

We'll get the EMI shields off soon enough...

Apple used custom molded rubber bumpers between the chips and the EMI shields presumably to quell any interference between analog and digital circuitry.

Thanks to our friends at UBM Techinsights for providing us with some chip identifications.

The front side of the Verizon logic board (on top) contains:

• Apple A4 Processor
• Qualcomm PM8028 Power Management
• Dialog D1815A Power Management IC (Apple branded 338S087)
• 343S0499 - Texas Instruments Touchscreen controller - Apple/TI, part is #343S0499/#F761586G (an up-rev from earlier # F761586C of the iPhone 3GS)
• SKY77711-4 - Skyworks poweramplifier module for CDMA/PCS
• SKY77710-4 - Skyworks power amplifier module for dual-mode CDMA/AMPS

The back side of the Verizon logic board (on top) contains:

• Qualcomm MDM6600
• Toshiba TH58NVG7D2FLA89 16 GB NAND Flash
• Toshiba Y890A111222KA
• RS KMOD16104 - The logo on this package appears to be that of Murata's. We suspect that this contains the Broadcom BCM4329 that reportedly provides Wi-Fi/Bluetooth connectivity.

  • Adding credibility to this statement is the fact that we found this chip last June in the GSM iPhone 4 and that Murata and Broadcom have had RF partnerships in the past.

Here are the brains of the iPhone.

The A4 markings read N31BNPZ5 APL0398 339S0123, front and center.

ST Micro's 2052 33DH 0BGDL (three-axis accelerometer)

ST Micro's AGD8 (L3G4200D 3D gyroscope)

10C0 047A 0315

Cirrus Logic 338S0589 CLI1495B0 Audio Codec (Apple branded)

Like the Apple TV, there is an interesting set of unused solder pads near the edge of the logic board. These are likely used for testing during development.

The Qualcomm PM8028 chip works in conjunction with the Qualcomm MDM6600 to provide wireless data connection to the phone.

Dialog D1815A power management IC is in the Apple branded package labeled 338S0876.

Avago A2FIO46

Skyworks SKY77711 and SKY77710 power amplifiers

These photos belie how small all these chips are. We'd be lost without the help of a good camera lens and a magnifying loupe.