Cabe Atwell
EDN
Love it or hate it, there's no question that Apple's iPhone line is popular, and while the numbers haven't officially been announced yet, the company has already broken its record for pre-orders online (roughly 4 million in a 24-hour period compared to the iPhone 5’s 2 million). The new smartphone comes in two flavors – the 6 and the 6 Plus. In this teardown, we focus on Apple's flagship, the larger "phablet" 6 Plus.
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| The iPhone 6 Plus packs a host of new tech including Apple’s A8 SoC manufactured by TSMC. (Source: iFixit) |
The phone comes in three colors, including silver, gold, and "space grey" instead of the typical dirt-absorbent white of the earlier models. It's interesting to note that iFixit gave the new lineup an improved repairability score of 6/7 out of a possible 10, because the phone now has an easily removable battery and the fingerprint cable no longer rips off when opening the case.
Enough about the iPhone's aesthetics and sales numbers, let's get down to business and see what makes the 6 Plus tick!
Case features
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| The massive battery is larger and 16% more efficient than the model 5S. Like a work of art ... too bad so few will see inside the case. (Source: iFixit) |
The iPhone 6 Plus case features an aluminum back plate with a typical plastic front, which is held together with Pentalobe screws. A noticeable "bump" from the improved optics of the camera runs along the case edge that raises it about 0.6 mm, not a big deal because the optics provide improved image quality. Once the case is cracked open, you’ll notice the hardware is fastened with Philips screws, making them easier to disassemble. The first thing that stands out when looking inside is the size of the battery. Apple went with a massive Li-Ion battery rated at 2,915 mAh that has a reported 16-day standby time, which is removed using an adhesive pull-tab. The FaceTime camera and Retina display LED back-plate are clearly visible along with the home button with integrated Touch ID fingerprint scanner.
Display takes serious real estate
The iPhone 6 Plus has a massive 5.5-inch display that spans the phone literally from one edge to the other. Like most of the other manufacturers on the market (HTC, LG, Samsung, etc.), Apple decided to pack their Retina HD Display with as many pixels as possible per-square inch, in the case of the Plus: 401-ppi. That’s 401 pixels per inch and a whopping 2205.5 on the whole display!
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| The iPhone 6 Plus has a 5.5-inch HD LED screen with 401 ppi and IPS technology. (Source: iFixit) |
You’ll notice that Apple has redesigned how the home button connects to the phone’s mainboard, completely removing the short, fragile cable featured on the 5s. The new redesign features a longer cable that’s routed to the opposite end of the phone, making it easier to remove the inside components without damaging the cable.
Apple A8 APL1011 SoC stars
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| The heart of the matter- the iPhone 6 Plus’ mainboard with Apple A8 SoC with 1 GB of RAM. (Source: iFixit) |
Getting to the heart of the matter, we can see what makes the iPhone 6 Plus function with a clear view of the Apple A8 APL1011 SoC in all of its glory. Apple went with TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) to manufacture the chip, which is clocked at 1.4 GHz and features 1 GB of Elpida LPDDR3 RAM. We can also see a Qualcomm MDM9625M LTE modem, Skyworks Low Band LTE PAD and an TriQuint TQF6410 3G EDGE Power Amplifier Module. There’s also a InvenSense MP67B 6-axis gyroscope and accelerometer combo. The flipside of the mainboard features 16 to 128 GB module of Hynix NAND flash (depending on customer’s needs), Murata Wi-Fi module and a Broadcom touchscreen controller. Still packed onto the tiny board is an ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller (M8 motion coprocessor), NXP 65V10 NFC module + Secure Element along with a Qualcomm RF transceiver.
Lots of hardware in small space
As you can see, Apple packed a large amount of hardware into a relatively small space with some improvements made over the company's previous flagship 5s.
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| The fully disassembled iPhone 6 Plus packs a lot of hardware in a relatively small space. (Source: iFixit) |
A larger battery, 401-ppi HD full 1080p Retina HD Display and a redesigned home button with integrated FingerPrint reader are just a few of the improvements integrated into the 6 Plus. Both versions of the 6 series run Apple's iOS 8 and are almost identical in design and hardware specs. The most obvious differences between the two are the display sizes (the iPhone 6 features a 4.7-inch screen) and Li-Ion batteries (the 6 uses an smaller 1810 mAh battery), however the market price is different as well, and prices start at $299 for the 6 Plus and $199 for the 6.
The iPhone 6 line hit the market on Friday (Sept 19) and some buyers were a little angry at the fact that some stores didn’t carry the 6 Plus, which is apparently hard to find at this point, unless you were lucky enough to pre-order it online.
