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Repair information, troubleshooting tips, and guides for the sixth iteration of Apple iPhone, announced on September 12, 2012. Model: A1428, A1429

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What is the WIFI antenna? The upper metal part or the pcb?

Hi everybody!

I am wondering what part exactly the antenna is - on iPhone 5/6.

I know the antenna design is called PIF (planar inverted F), an that's exactly what the "flexible" antenna pcb looks like (for iPhone 5, take a look here - for iPhone 6, here)

The part i don't understand is the following:

If you look at this picture from an report on techinsights, the caption says:

"the upper metal band is shared between ... WIFI and ..." and "... Wifi ... Launch Point"

As I understand it, the upper metal part is the "ground plate" for the PIF-antenna, is that correct?

I appreciate every answer, but please - if you are guessing, tell us that you don't know it for sure ;)

EDIT:

I don't know why, but i cannot comment the answers anymore - seems like iRobot deletes my answers immediately :/

Therefore let me do it this way:

@tomchai:

Okay wonderful, it's much clearer now! I guess the small Wifi-Antenna is some kind of Microstrip Antenna then - with a grounding plate integrated into the flex?

Another question: where is the 5GHz wifi antenna located? Does the flexible one serve both? Like "the right part is for 2,4 and the left for 5GHz"?

E.g. the right part is 2,4 GHz and the left is 5 GHz?

It looks like similar but not the same as the following multiband antenna:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted-F...

Here is a picture of how it really looks: https://d3s3pwkdndxcyh.cloudfront.net/ca...

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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No, the upper band IS the antenna itself. iPhone has complex of antenna designs, not just a plain F antenna.

The top part is actually either a loop antenna or an F antenna. The double L cable is just a cable to pass between chips and antennas, not actually the antenna itself.

The top part is isolated from the rest of the case, the left end is connected to ground by a metal clip UNDER the small antenna assembly above the main board, that serves as the ground reference of F, the double-screw clip on the upper left ABOVE the main board is the feed point where signal pass through to the board electronics. The mid-right clip ABOVE the board is actually a tuner, it changes the RF parameters of the top part to fit different wireless bands. The right end is connected to the board by a flex cable with a tiny inductor on it, that is the NFC feed point. To wireless services, the inductance is equivalent to open circuit, so it is an F antenna to them, while for NFC low frequencies, the entire top part from left grounding clip to right feed forms a giant loop, so it is either a loop antenna or a huge transformer coil, which makes more sense in NFC range.

The small antenna assembly is apparently for 5Ghz wifi only, the top case is for all cellular diversity, GPS, wifi2.4G, Bluetooth and NFC.

Update: for iPhone 5, the small plastic film antenna under the vibrator motors handle ALL wifi and bluetooth, the top bezel handles cellular diversity and GPS.

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14 Comments:

Thank you for the answer! I will try to understand that and reply then ;) Actually i own a iPhone 5, but I guess your answer is based on the iPhone 6 - right?

by

Yes. However iPhone 5 has similar design, the top bezel is for cell and GPS while the plastic film antenna is for wifi. The small flex with a chip on it connects the antenna to the board using the 2 screws.

by

Okay wonderful, it's much clearer now! I guess the small Wifi-Antenna is some kind of Microstrip Antenna then - with a grounding plate integrated into the flex?

Another question: where is the 5GHz wifi antenna located? Does the flexible one serve both?

It looks like similar but not the same as the one on:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted-F...

Here is a actual picture of it: https://d3s3pwkdndxcyh.cloudfront.net/ca...

by

It looks like similar but not the same as the following multiband antenna:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted-F...

Here is a picture of how it really looks: http://www.bilder-upload.eu/upload/8ee8e...

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i edited the question above since i cannot comment anymore?!

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