iPhone SE’s Revelations: The Complete Breakdown

Apple came out with another iPhone this month, termed to be the successor for their compact and stylish iPhone 5S that was released in December.

Earlier than expected, although speculated the new iPhone was introduced along with their new iPads and their new operating systems for iPhones and iPads at their 21st March event in Cupertino. Starting at Rs.39000 here in India and costing around 499$ in the United States if you are planning to get one from there. This is just a renaissance device to their famous iPhone 5S sized at 4 inches.

The new phone is now equipped with the latest-generation chipsets the same found in Apple's iPhone 6s. Chipworks have conducted a break-down of the device. As expected, the device uses a combination of components from past iPhones 5, 6, and 6s, terming it as "this is not your typical Apple release. Chipworks claimed there was no actual innovation but a combination of all the components of the previous devices. "There are very few new parts, but that hardly means there is no innovation. As is the genius of Apple and its fearless leader, Mr. Cook, it is the combination of all the right parts that make a successful product." they said.

The processor inside the iPhone SE is indeed the A9 processor found in the iPhone 6s, and also same 2GB LPDDR4 DRAM memory module found in the iPhone 6s. Even though this is not the flagship, it is kind of harsh about this product because the price point of 39,000INR just for a previous generation phone just with some new chips and new features is not really justified. The NFC chip is the NXP 66V10, the same used in the iPhone 6s, and the 6-axis sensor is from InvenSense and was also used in the iPhone 6s.

The Qualcomm MDM9625M modem and the accompanying transceiver were originally found in the iPhone 6, and the Audio ICs, which Chipworks thinks were designed by Cirrus Logic, came from the iPhone 6s. While many parts were originally from the iPhone 6 or 6s, the touch screen controller components (Broadcom BCM5976 and Texas Instruments 343S0645) were originally used in the iPhone 5s.

There are a few new components in the iPhone SE, including a "338S00170 device," which Chipworks says is "very likely a new Apple/Dialog power management IC," along with a Skyworks SKY77611 power amplifier module, a 16GB Toshiba NAND flash module, an EPCOS D5255 antenna switch module, and an AAC Technologies microphone.   

Additional information regarding more break-downs will be revealed as Chipworks continues with their teardown with also potential companies like iFixit also bringing out their own breakdowns.