Steps 1–16: Teardown
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Step 9
The battery. It's 2.92 Whr, which comes out to be 789 mAh.
We appreciate it when Apple to prints the watt-hour ratings on their batteries, it makes our job a lot easier.
Step 10
After peeling away the speaker, here's the brains of the touch.
Samsung looks to be the big winner here.
The primary ARM processor is adorned with the following:
339S0075 ARM
K4X2G303PE-SGC8
YNE069AC 0928
APL2298
Is this a new, faster processor? The processor on the last iPod touch (2nd gen) was labelled 339S0048ARM. The processor in the iPhone 3GS is marked 339S0073ARM.
Step 11
The Samsung branded NAND flash.
There are two 128 gigabit packages, for a total of 256 gigabits. Divide that by eight, and that's 32 gigabytes of MLC NAND flash.
The chips looked like that when we removed the speaker, we didn't damage them ourselves. We're not sure if that's just adhesive, or if the packages were actually slightly melted.
Step 12
The other side of the board.
You can see where the contacts for the battery connect to the logic board, just the the left of the word "APPLE."
Step 13
An 8 GB 2nd gen touch logic board (left) and. our new 32 GB 3rd gen touch logic board.
Both machines have the same basic board design. However, on the 3rd gen, the NAND flash is split between two chips, leaving very little free space on the board.
Step 14
Broadcom BCM4329FKUBG wireless chip.
According to Broadcom, the BCM4329 supports 802.11n!
This is a big deal, as even the iPhone 3GS doesn't support 802.11n. The iPhone 3GS has a BCM4325 wireless chip, which only supports 802.11 a/b/g. We don't know yet if 802.11n will be supported in software, but at least the hardware's there.
There's also Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and a FM receiver and transmitter packed into this chip. If they built in the antennas, and if Apple adds software support, you could theoretically stream music to your car stereo without any external hardware. But that's a lot of ifs.
Step 15
it appears that Apple left in room for a camera in the top of the device. There is a 6mm x 6mm x 3mm space between the Broadcom chip and the wireless antenna. There isn't enough depth for an iPhone-style autofocus still camera, but just enough room for the camera that Apple used in the 5th generation iPod nano.
Step 16
Other side of the board.
Not enough hardware pr0n for you? Just yesterday, we did a teardown of the 5th generation iPod nano.
Shameless plug: We sell hundreds of iPod parts for repairing your iPod touch, replacing an aging iPod battery, or fixing a cracked screen.
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Wait. How is 1080mAh at 3.7v come out to be 2.92Whr ? Wouldn't that be 1.08*3.7=3.996Whr?
I think you hit the "2" key instead of "3" while calculating this, because 2.92 Whr / 2.7 V is 1.08 mAh, but as the battery is 3.7v, not 2.7v what you should have gotten is 790mAh
Wouldn't that be 789 mAh?
oops, I'm repeating someone else, sorry
Apple calls this generation of the touch the "late 2009" model.
iFixit Staff
You're right, I fixed my math. Thanks for pointing that out, and even figuring out what I did wrong.
No the chips did not melt, that's what is called 'underfill'. What you can see there, a simple but effective technologie enabling inproved reliability on chip solder joints for BGA chips. (ball grid arrays)
"We're not sure if that's just adhesive, or if the packages were actually slightly melted"
it looks like super glue!
Could be excess underfill or conformal coating.
Are the chips in the 3G iPod touch SLC or MLC?
iFixit Staff
I want an FM transmitter in my iPhone 3GS! That would rock...and roll?
So the chip supports it. Is there an FM antenna path and swtich? The spec shows FM doesn't share the Bluetooth and WLAN RF path, namely because they operate in different frequency bands. If the RF path isn't there, it doesn't matter whether you enable the feature in software or not.
Was the broadcom chip's die damaged during the ipod's disassemble? Or it is like this (have something like an "hoke" in the right botton side of the die)?
So, how do I get one of those 802.11n chips into my 3Gs?
If they have the 4329 in them then why don't the devices support the 5GHz radio band? The 5GHz band allows wide channels which would double the throughput and probably save battery life when using Wi-Fi so why aren't the idiots at Apple using that band? The only way to get that 50Mbps of actual throughput on a single stream 802.11n device is on a wide channel in the 5GHz band. Apple has always been so forward thinking in terms of Wi-Fi, why are they crippling this device? Is it because they were unwilling to change the industrial design in order to fit a dual-band antenna into it? If so, that's just plain stupid.
Does the 8 GB touch include the 802.11n chip, or just the 32 and 64 GB models?
Reading the product brief, there are at least two versions of the BCM4329: the BCM4329H with 5GHz and 802.11a, and the BCM4329G without 802.11a and 5GHz. If you had a full datasheet, you could decode the entire part number, but I'm guessing the touch uses the BCM4329H.
I meant BCM4329G
I'm pretty sure apple put the video camera on the nano to help sell more nanos, and didn't put it on the iTouch so that people would have to buy the iPhone instead. It make sense if you think about it: before, nanos and touches didn't even compare. Putting a video camera on the nano makes it unique, and a lot of people will buy it for that reason. The iTouch pretty much sells itself, so they don't really need to upgrade it that much. They'd rather you buy the iPhone which would make them more money. That's my take on it anyway. Looks like I'll sit tight until the next iTouch is announced.
I think it should be mentioned that, based on position and the "cutout" on the underside of the front bezel, this space looks like it was meant for a forward facing camera; which, as 1comment pointed out, would make it tough to sell the nano or iPhone on the basis of their cameras.
That area could expand enough for a camera... apple will probably give it to samsung to do, just like every one else it seems.
Is the wireless antenna the little guy being held by the finger and thumb in this picture? Does bluetooth and wifi use the same antenna?
In your teardown, have you guys seen any place where a camera would connect to the logic board?
... what is that connector on the left, the one with 34 pins?
Looks like the interface for the touchscreen (step 4).
A camera could connect using as few as 4 pins (ie, USB). With that in mind, two things pop out: the 6-pin device to the left of the camera space (is it a connector?), or the 5 solder pads below it around the hole (do they already connect something?).
Most imager ICs use 8-10 lines for output data, 3 lines for output-synchronizing clocks (frame, row, & pixel), one line for the master input clock, two lines for an I2C command-control interface, two supply lines (one for the digital I/O voltage reference, another for the analog reference), and ground -- call it 20 lines. The Nano's imager connector matches that perfectly.
And yes, I'm aware of the MIPI and MDDI interfaces, but the parallel interface is predominant at present.
what type of microphone ?