Disassembly of iPhone 15 Pro Max: Large exposure of internal details and components

Recently, Apple's new generation of smart phones iPhone 15 series has been put on sale, and foreign professional disassembly agency iFixit has also disassembled the iPhone 15 Pro Max for the first time.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max adopts a titanium middle frame design, equipped with TSMC's 3nm A17 Pro processor, and is equipped with a periscope lens and USB Type C interface for the first time.

New internal design architecture

For years, smartphone disassembly either required opening from the front, which made battery replacement difficult; Either open from the back, but make the screen replacement challenging. Apple finally cracked the puzzle with last year's vanilla version of the iPhone 14, enabling the phone to open from both the front and back. This huge upgrade has resulted in an improved repairability score for the iPhone 14 compared to previous models. (It has been gradually lowered due to repair limitations introduced by parts pairing, but that's another story.) ）

Fortunately, the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus also feature a similar design. The internal components are installed on an intermediate frame. The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max can now also be opened from both directions, but in an unexpectedly opposite way: all the interiors are hidden behind the screen, not behind the glass on the back. But now the glass on the back can also be removed.

iFixit said that the iPhone 15 series has a new internal structure design that makes the iPhone easier to repair and can easily replace the back glass. But this inverted internal arrangement makes critical repairs like battery replacement slightly riskier than the iPhone 14, because you're removing an expensive, flimsy display, not a glass back. To get access to the battery and other parts, you have to heat and pry the screen open, which is slightly riskier. If you accidentally tear the cable, instead of destroying the monitor, tear the back cover cable.

So why doesn't the iPhone 15 Pro series adopt a design similar to the new iPhone 14? This may be related to a larger camera array. After all, the camera protrudes from the cutout of the aluminum middle frame, which already indicates that there is not enough space inside for the opposite arrangement.

It should be noted that Apple is continuing to gradually reduce the thickness of the display bezel. Some users disassembled report that the white gasket around the perimeter of the monitor is new, but this is not the case - it just changes from black to white. Its design is a bit different from previous phones, and some people have reported that it is more difficult to remove.

Many components of the iPhone 15 series have a modular design, such as the microphone, which is now a separate component.

There are no restrictions on the USB-C interface

In terms of interface, the iPhone 15 series also abandoned the Lightning interface for many years for the first time. Consumers can use the same cable to charge iPhones, Macs, iPads, and newer AirPods Pro (second generation). Users can also use the USB-C connector to charge AirPods or Apple Watch directly from the iPhone.

This shift by Apple will benefit all users. In addition to the obvious compatibility benefits, the new USB-C interface can also provide 4.5 watts of power to external devices. That's a 15x upgrade for Lightning phones that previously could only output 0.3 watts.

There have been two rumors about the iPhone 15 series USB-C charging port. The first is that the part will be serialized, paired with the motherboard, and locked for independent repair. Fortunately, this is not the case, and swapping two ports can maintain full functionality. The second rumor is that Apple will limit the transfer rate of the USB-C port for some reason. Actually, this is not true.

The A17 Pro's system-on-chip (SoC) adds a USB 3 controller to achieve a USB 3.2 Gen2 10 Gbps throughput. Since the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus models inherit the older A16 processor, they only support USB 2 and have the same transfer speed as previous Lightning devices.

Battery capacity growth is lackluster

The iPhone 15 Pro Max's battery capacity is 4422 mAh, which is 2.3% more than the iPhone 14 Pro Max's 4323 mAh battery capacity. Similarly, the iPhone 14 Pro's 3274 mAh battery also has 2.3% more capacity compared to the iPhone 15 Pro's 3274 mAh battery. That's not a good sign for lackluster battery capacity growth, as the A17 Pro is very power-hungry. Some recent test reports show that the iPhone 15 Pro series of phones will heat up and maintain a high temperature when running heavy loads, and the battery life will drop accordingly.

Titanium middle frame

Thanks to the lighter and stronger titanium center frame, the weight of the iPhone 15 Pro Max has also been reduced to 221 grams, and it is 19 grams lighter than the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

There is an interesting theory about weight reduction, which is that by reducing weight around the phone, it will be easier to move. The technical term for this is moment of inertia, which is the force required to rotate the phone around the axis. When the mass is removed from the edges, the phone feels more flexible in your hand – like tucking your legs away when spinning. Compared with the actual weight reduction of 9%, the iPhone 15 Pro series will bring a greater "feeling" of lightening.

Drang said: "The change from stainless steel to titanium reduces the surrounding mass, which undoubtedly reduces the moment of inertia more than a uniform reduction in mass. This will make the iPhone 15 Pro series easier to handle and at least give the impression of lightness, at least to some extent. ”

As a space-grade material, titanium is not only lighter, but also stronger. Back in 2001, Apple made the PowerBook G4 out of titanium. But if possible, manufacturers tend to avoid titanium, not only because it is expensive, but also because it is difficult to use.

So while titanium makes sense for the case, it's no different for the middle frame. Usually the middle frame is a hidden but mechanically complex aluminum part on which all internal phone components are mounted. But how do you keep the aluminum middle frame and use titanium for the perimeter?

The iPhone's titanium strip uses an industry-first thermomechanical process that wraps a new substructure made of 100% recycled aluminum, combining the two metals with amazing strength through solid-state diffusion. The aluminum frame helps dissipate heat and makes the back glass easy to replace.

This thermomechanical process is most likely solid-state diffusion bonding, a process in which two different metals are heated to very high temperatures and then pressed very hard together. This is not a new idea - blacksmiths have been heating metal and hammering it together for thousands of years. But now, this is very rare. Wikipedia says: "Due to its relatively high cost, diffusion welding is most commonly used for jobs that are difficult or impossible to weld by other means. ”

High cost? Superhard metal? Difficult work? That sounds like Apple's specialty.

In the figure below, this is roughly what a diffusion bonder looks like. It heats the metal to 1700 degrees Celsius, which is about the melting point of steel. It then sucks out all the oxygen to create a high vacuum of 10-6 torr. The materials are then pressed together with a force of 100 tons. And then leave it there for an hour.

△A vacuum hot cell for sintering 3D printed parts. It can be combined with a hydraulic press. Photo credit: Centorr Vacuum Industries

This is an extremely complex, expensive process that is usually limited to small-scale production of aerospace parts, rather than mass production of smartphones.

There is a meaning of sustainability here. Electronics recyclers are used to handling steel and aluminum, but typically do not handle titanium. If titanium ends up being thrown into an aluminum shredder, it can damage or dull the blade. iPhones, on the other hand, have so much residual value that they are usually treated specially in these facilities.

Although titanium itself is hard, the coating on titanium is easily scratched.

Electronic components

Although Apple has been working hard to develop its own 5G baseband chips in recent years, there is still no exact launch timeline, and Apple has recently renewed a three-year baseband chip supply agreement with Qualcomm. This also means that Apple's self-developed 5G baseband chip is still a long way from being available.

Red Qualcomm SDX70M Snapdragon X70 modem

Orange: Qualcomm SDR735 RF transceiver

Yellow: Qualcomm SMR546 RF transceiver

Green: Probably Apple 339S01232 WiFi and Bluetooth module

Sky blue: Broadcom AFEM-8234 front-end module

Dark blue: Skyworks SKY58440-11 front-end module

Purple: Qorvo QM76305 front-end module

We can clearly see the Qualcomm Snapdragon X70 5G baseband chip on the iPhone 15 Pro Max motherboard. Qualcomm says it is powered by artificial intelligence for beam management and antenna tuning.

Red: It may be a front-end module SKY50313 Skyworks

Orange: Probably the Apple 339M00287 front-end module

Yellow: Broadcom AFEM-8245 front-end module

△Red: STicroelectronics ST33J Secure Element

Orange: Qualcomm PMX65 power management

Yellow: Qualcomm QET7100 broadband envelope tracker

On the other motherboard, is the Apple A17 Pro processor, based on TSMC's 3nm process, with a 6-core CPU (2 large cores clocked at 3.77GHz, 4 small cores), a 6-core GPU and a 16-core neural network engine.

△ Red: Apple APL1V02/339S01257 A17 Pro processor stacked under SK hynix H58G66AK6HX132 8 GB LPDDR5 SDRAM memory.

Orange: Apple APL109A/338S01022 power management chip

Yellow: STMicroelectronics STCPM1A3 power management chip

Green: STMicroelectronics STB605A11 power management chip

Sky blue: Apple 338S00946-B0 power management chip

Dark blue: Apple 338S00616 power management chip

Purple: Probably Texas Instruments SN2012017 battery charging chip

△ Red Apple 338S00739 audio codec

Orange: Apple 338S00537 Audio Amplifier

Yellow: Winbond W25Q80DVUXIE 1MB serial NOR flash

Green: Probably Texas Instruments TPS61280H battery front-end DC-DC converter

Dark blue: Probably UWB Module

Purple: Bosch Sensortec 6-axis MEMS accelerometer and gyroscope

Components on the other side of the motherboard:

Red could be Kioxia K5A4RB6302CA12304 256 GB NAND flash memory

Orange: Apple 338S00537 Audio Amplifier

Yellow: Texas Instruments LM3567A1 flash controller

Green: Texas Instruments TPS65657B0 monitor power

Sky Blue: Apple 338S01026-B1 power management

Dark blue: Probably Apple 338S000843 audio DSP

Violet: Possible NFC controller for NXP Semiconductors

Imaging system

The biggest upgrade to Apple's iPhone 15 Pro Max camera this year is the "quad prism" periscope lens, which increases the iPhone's optical zoom from 2x to 5x. However, many Android flagships have been upgraded to 10x zoom, such as the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. But the way Apple engineers achieve this is particularly interesting, and "quadrangular prism" is a word invented by Apple's marketing team.

Instead of opting for a series of lens elements controlled by electromagnets, Apple designed a single-piece "periscope" that could reflect light multiple times to simulate a focal length of 120 mm.

The physical challenge that smartphone camera designers have been grappling with is the thickness of the phone's lens system, and using a periscope allows the sensor to be slightly off-camera, reducing the thickness of the lens module.

A periscope is a device for observing objects through obstacles. In the periscope lens module of the mobile phone, the obstacle becomes the camera itself, which reflects the light to the side through the mirror, making the focal length between the front lens and the focus on the sensor larger.

Aside from the new periscope lens, the sensors on the iPhone 15 Pro Max's main and wide cameras appear to be the same size as last year's 14 Pro Max, suggesting that any improvements in image quality may have more to do with the new A17 Pro processor than with the sensor hardware itself. In addition, the screws that hold the camera in place are much larger than in the past.

△Front lens module with FaceID

Design based on part pairing

Although the iPhone 15 series continues the modular design, iFixit swapped the front camera between two units in the iPhone 15 Pro Max unit, causing the camera to not work properly.

In terms of repairability, while iFixit is enthusiastic about the easier to disassemble design of the iPhone 14 series, it had to adjust the repairability score of the iPhone 15 Pro Max from a promising 7 to a dismal 4, underscoring Apple's constant restrictions on repair freedom through its restrictive parts pairing system.

In order to repair these models effectively, the user must source parts and verify the repair within the scope authorized by Apple. Without calibration, these parts either do not work at all, or are impaired in function and constantly warned.

Separately, iFixit found that the lidar component on the rear of the iPhone 15 Pro Max is essential for augmented reality functionality and creating content for the Vision Pro, but it is also completely locked into the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Editor: Xinzhixun - Ronin Sword