So What is Inside the iPhone?

There’s been a lot of speculation in the past week or two as to what components Apple is using in their iPhone, launched with much glitz on January 9, not at CES.  And now that the initial flurry of activity and SWAG has died down, and given that I’m as interested as anyone in the business in what’s actually going to be in this thing ... I’ve been trawling the web to see what the speculation is, and compiled the table below.

Most of the commentary comes from EETimes and Digitimes, coupled with some speculation of my own. Intel has publicly denied that it is supplying any silicon, so that rules them out. iSuppli has come up with an estimated cost of about $230 for the 4 GB version, giving roughly 50% margin on each unit.

My guesses in the table are the Wolfson audio chip, the flash memory suppliers, and the power management and camera chips, based on the previous use of parts in other Apple products. We know from our analyses of iPods that Apple multi-sources their flash chips, and similarly we’ve see multiple uses of various Wolfson and NXP power management products. (For a Caledonian perspective on the launch supporting our theory, The Scotsman described “confident body language” from Wolfson management.) 

One of the coolest features to my cynical eye is the way the display can switch from portrait to landscape as you turn the device – why don’t we see that in desktop displays? So there has to be a position sensor in there too, likely a MEMS accelerometer or gyroscope, and ST and ADI are getting design wins in consumer devices such as the Nintendo Wii – see the blog from November 28 last year.

There also have to be proximity and light sensors too, since the display adjusts itself according to ambient light, and it turns itself off when a call is being made. One thing we don’t know is whether the microphone is a MEMS device like the Knowles Acoustics (our report) or Akustica products, or a conventional diaphragm microphone.

All this will come out in the fullness of time – scheduled release of the iPhone in the US is apparently June.  Although it’s worth noting the footer on the iPhone webpage:

“This device has not been authorized as required by the rules of the Federal Communications Commission. This device is not, and may not be, offered for sale or lease, or sold or leased, until authorization is obtained.”

So will we see the iPhone in June?  Only Steve Jobs knows!