HN Gopher Feed (2017-11-03) - page 1 of 10 ___________________________________________________________________
iPhone X Teardown
199 points by hutattedonmyarm
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone%2BX%2BTeardown/98975opher.com___________________________________________________________________
marze - 3 hours ago
The most impressive thing to me is how similar the iPhone X is to
the original iPhone (shown side by side in the second picture).Ten
years ago, Apple totally nailed the design. Same buttons, same
speaker design, same full panel display. Even design work by a
company as talented as Apple, you might expect that a new model ten
years into the future may look quite different, but it looks the
same.
jack6e - 2 hours ago
> The most impressive thing to me is how similar the iPhone X is
to the original iPhone (shown side by side in the second
picture).And really, how similar every non-notebook/desktop Apple
product has been to each other one. Design-wise, the iPhone was
just an iPod with a bigger screen; iPod touch/nano/other
variations are obviously just an iPhone in different sizes; the
watch is just the iPod nano on a wristband; iPad is a bigger
iPhone. Apple hasn't released a fundamentally new design idea in
over a decade.On the one hand, the consistency of physical design
is its own type of branding and creates solid brand recognition.
On the other hand, the UI/UX that transformed interacting in the
digital world from using keyboards and mice to using our fingers
on touch screens is already old. Apple really has no need to be
creative since they are still profiting from their slight
modifications. But the next big, real revolution in personal
computing design and usage will need to be more than a glass
rectangle with slightly better curved edges.
tqkxzugoaupvwqr - 1 hours ago
Why do you want them to design their products differently from
previous models just for the sake of it? Apple iterates on
their designs. Few/no changes mean Apple thinks their product
is close to perfect (in the context of the available technology
and intended usage).I much prefer Apple?s iterative and proven
designs than other manufacturers? products that are seemingly
designed without experience from previous generations.
thomasjudge - 1 hours ago
Not to mention the equivalent in software, designers forcing
new UI's on us with each major release. Looking at you, MSFT.
Especially when those changes are largely w/r/t what's now
trendy, such as the recent iteration in design towards
everything flat.Not intending to start a design-related
flamewar..
valuearb - 56 minutes ago
The iPod team was given first shot at making the Apple phone.
They lost to the Mac team. Design-wise the iPhone was just the
(secret) Mac tablet with a smaller screen.
Terretta - 1 hours ago
> the UI/UX that transformed interacting in the digital world
from using keyboards and mice to using our fingers on touch
screens is already old.The pencil is already old too. So?It's
not clear to me that for things to be usable the way they get
used has to change at some particular rate. On the contrary,
the most usable user experiences (UXs) seem to be quite stable.
djrogers - 1 hours ago
> Design-wise, the iPhone was just an iPod with a bigger
screenThat's revisionist at it's best, and ridiculously untrue
at it's worst. iPods in 2007 were about 1/3rd screen, and
2/3rds clickwheel. They were shaped like, and as thick as, a
pack pf playing cards, made of plastic and metal (not glass),
and basically shared nothing with the iPhone's design. When
that device was released, we'd never seen anything like it.
saagarjha - 3 hours ago
> Same buttonsThere might be a button or two missing?
marze - 3 hours ago
True, but look at the change phones from ten years pre-iphone
vs iPhone.http://www.mobilephonehistory.co.uk/lists/by_year.htm
lHuge change. But after Apple nailed the modern smartphone
design on the first try, ten years later it is remarkably
unchanged.
robotresearcher - 2 hours ago
Remarkably, yes. But this release removing the biggest, most
used, iconic button might not be the ideal moment to claim
"same buttons!"
mikeash - 1 hours ago
75% the same after ten years is not too shabby!
phinnaeus - 3 hours ago
> Same full panel displayWhat?
Zee2 - 3 hours ago
I mean, relative to the competition, the original iPhone was
certainly rather "full panel"!http://www.techpavan.com/wp-
content/uploads/mobile-phone-mar...Devoting the majority of the
vertical dimension of the profile of the phone to display was
definitely not a priority of the market at the time.
Animats - 3 hours ago
The Nikon CoolPix S80 line of cameras were full-panel
displays. That was probably the first full-panel device. This
turned out to be less than useful. It's hard to hold the
thing stable when taking a picture without touching the touch
screen.
mandeepj - 2 hours ago
Steve Jobs - "People who are really serious about software should
make their own hardware."
noblethrasher - 1 hours ago
He actually attributed that to Alan Kay at the first iPhone
event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAfTXYa36f4
alaaibrahim - 2 hours ago
That was Alan KayEdit: Adding sourcehttps://www.folklore.org/Stor
yView.py?project=Macintosh&stor...
jonknee - 2 hours ago
To be fair, that wouldn't stop Steve from claiming it was his
idea.
B1FF_PSUVM - 2 hours ago
"I did not say it.""You will."(Oscar Wilde, if memory serves)
sk2code - 1 hours ago
Hardware company or Software company, we can always debate about it
and choose whatever we want to say. In few years Apple will be a
"Trillion dollar company" and there won't be any debate or doubt
about it.
Synaesthesia - 1 hours ago
The video of the infrared dots is quite interesting.
valine - 10 minutes ago
The iFixit video doesn't show it very clearly. Seeing the dots up
close is crazy:
https://twitter.com/reckless/status/926466977413128192?ref_s...
asteli - 2 hours ago
This is an engineering masterpiece. The electrical engineer in me
is mind-blown. I love the inter-PCB BGA-style interface. Standoff,
connector and shield all in one component. And the component
density is stunning.Clean internal layout, relatively serviceable,
structured light 3D scanning built in. You can debate whether or
not Apple have made good UI decisions, but the hardware design
execution here is superb.
overcyn - 1 hours ago
Yeah I don't know the slightest about electrical engineering but
the spacer that servers as a connector struck me as super clever.
timthelion - 1 hours ago
I don't understand, when they got rid of the audio jack and added
wireless charging, why does the phone have ports at all? Couldn't
they make a port-less phone?
mattnewton - 1 hours ago
Diagnostics, developer experience and backups are all hard to do
wirelessly, but I am sure they are thinking about it.
moduspol - 1 hours ago
We (developers) can already build and run wirelessly since a
year or so ago, and iTunes will back up your iPhone wirelessly,
too.It does need to be plugged in once and then enabled, but
after that you're off to the races. We're actually pretty
close. It wouldn't surprise me if the next iPhone had no ports,
although they'll probably save that for a non-S year.
leerob - 1 hours ago
I mean, they could. But does that mean they should? Personally, I
don't think so.
synaesthesisx - 1 hours ago
Does anyone have any more details/teardown on the new front sensor?
Curious if there's a Xilinx chip/FPGA in there....
fermienrico - 1 hours ago
The SIM card holder's size shows its age. It is literally as big as
the A11 package.Such archaic things need to evolve or disappear.
What's the status on electronic SIM? We don't need a piece of
plastic that holds a numeric key and takes up EXPENSIVE real-estate
in one of the most densely packed electronic devices in the
world.Apple doesn't have the leverage to sway the standards?
dzhiurgis - 1 hours ago
But how does it work while travelling?Yes you can buy roaming
packs, but local SIM cards are as low as 5$ for unlimited LTE.
stock_toaster - 1 hours ago
> don't need a piece of plastic that holds a numeric key
Doesn't a SIM include a small micro-controller and firmware
(ref#1)? It isn't just a numeric key holder.In addition, wouldn't
having an apple designed electronic SIM reduce what 3rd party
firmware (hardware SIM card) is running on their devices? Seems
like a good deal to me.ref#1:
https://www.slideshare.net/c.enrique.ortiz/sim-card-overview
fermienrico - 17 minutes ago
It doesn?t matter. My argument still stands regardless of
what?s inside the chip holder and the card. The point is - it?s
a relatively simple thing compared to the complexity of the
rest of the phone. It needs to be eradicated.
SadWebDeveloper - 1 hours ago
Its funny that in the old days the main selling point of GSM/SIM-
Cards were that you could physically change from phone to phone
and kept your line (and contacts), now we the recent race to get
things as little as possible and that virtually no one is using
by default any of the extra-GSM functionalities has (contact
backup), coming back to a non-physical identity as the solution
(like in the CDMA days) that will force you to go to carrier
every time you need to change yout phone and depend on 3rd party
online services for the extra functionalities.
GeekyBear - 56 minutes ago
The current nano-SIM standard is something that was created by
Apple.https://www.cnet.com/news/sim-card-maker-apples-design-
won-s...Since then, Apple has been pushing for carriers to
support a new standard for an embedded chip in the device to hold
the data currently stored on one or more removable SIM cards.>The
Apple SIM supports wireless services across multiple supported
carriers, which can be selected from a user interface within
their operating systems, removing the need to install a SIM
provided by the carrier
itself.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_SIM
foolfoolz - 8 minutes ago
the sim is no piece of plastic. SIM cards are computers! they
have a CPU. they have memory, a file system. they run applets,
yes Java applets. sims are one of the most secure pieces of
technology out there, part of the Secure Element standard. the
sim is responsible for a lot of your phones security. lots of
encryption keys live on the sim and nothing can access them at
all. I am much much happier to trust the hardware than software
for some of this. smaller form factors are always coming out for
sim, but it's worth the space
parent5446 - 1 hours ago
https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/4/16424740/google-pixel-2-x...
valuearb - 57 minutes ago
The Pixel is a great example of how Google is trying to cast
off the constraints of Android's distribution model. I really
think they can do it, but it's going to take a long effort.
Eventually all the cheap phones will be Android and
Google/Samsung/Apple will fight for the premium market. And
it's unclear how long Samsung will remain in the fight given
their lack of control over the OS and hardware integration.
mattnewton - 1 hours ago
They have an electronic sim on the watch- I imagine that?s
serving as a test bed for the carriers and for apple.
okanesen - 1 hours ago
They did it with their most recent Apple Watch, which could be a
first start to also bring it to the iPhone. They probably want to
first get the adoption going, before making it available
globally.
roywiggins - 1 hours ago
Apple build something like this into the Apple Watch, I
think.https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/12/the-cellular-enabled-
apple...
BinaryIdiot - 2 hours ago
I'm still on the fence about whether this is a great phone or not
because I use every one of my phones a significant amount when not
directly looking at it.But this hardware is absolutely incredible.
I wish there was a clear casing to the phone. Apple has always done
a great job design the internals and clearly this is no exception.
manmal - 1 hours ago
IMO it?s even better suitable than previous iPhones for that
situation. A tap on the display will wake it up and you can start
looking at notifications, swipe to get the camera.. or if you
refer to Siri, it?s still a button press.
diggan - 3 hours ago
Is there another reason than space-saving for the two batteries
instead of one bigger one but L-shaped?
slezyr - 2 hours ago
I don't think that L-shaped battery can be made.Imagine a list of
paper which you need to fold into compact form. It would be
really hard to fold it into "L".Batteries made of long sheets
folded then into rectanglehttp://images.indianexpress.com/2017/01
/galaxynote7_info_1.j...
fiatpandas - 2 hours ago
The "jelly roll" is just one packing technique. You can pack
flat sheets, so in theory can create an L shape.Another guess
is with an L shaped battery, thermal expansion makes it tricky
because the L shaped compartment has a sharp inner corner which
runs this risk of stressing the battery when it expands. A
square compartment does not have that issue.In any event, Apple
knows how to produce weird shaped batteries. Just look at the
Macbook. But it's in a nicely shape space.
alanbernstein - 1 hours ago
Which Macbook? The ones I've seen have a series of
rectangular cells to fill an awkward space.
fiatpandas - 1 hours ago
See here: https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/DgO4M5U
NBt1xfvqm.h...Irregular in 3 dimensions (terraced).
asteli - 2 hours ago
My guesses:- Cheaper to produce / higher yields than an L shape?-
LiIon batteries have a power density <-> energy density tradeoff.
Perhaps the batteries have different chemistries so as to get the
best of both worlds.
gbba - 3 hours ago
Splitting a battery into two cells might mean it can charge twice
as fast in parallel.
pkulak - 3 hours ago
Unfortunately, no.
gxs - 2 hours ago
Not agreeing or disagreeing - just curious, why is that?
biggerfisch - 2 hours ago
Not that I don't believe you, but could you explain why and
educate the rest of us?
BinaryIdiot - 2 hours ago
Hmm, this is what I thought as well. Just like if I have a
splitter plugged into the wall and two USB cables attached I
can charge those two devices as fast as if there was one item
plugged in. So why wouldn't this be faster?
kogepathic - 2 hours ago
> Unfortunately, no.Explanation as to why this isn't the
case:TL;DR - putting the cells in parallel without changing
their C-rating does nothing for charging them faster. You're
limited by the C-rating of the cells, which is usually
determined by the quality of components and the anode/cathode
design.Putting batteries in parallel maintains the voltage of
one cell but multiplies the current by the number of cells in
the pack.E.g. if you have two Lithium Polymer cells in
parallel, the nominal voltage will be 3.8V. At 5W, the
current would be ~1.3APutting batteries in series adds the
cell voltages while keeping current the same for the
pack.e.g. if you have two Lithium Polymer cells in series,
the nominal voltage of the pack would be 7.6V and at 5W the
current would be ~0.66A. Notice compared to the parallel
example: voltage is doubled, current is halved.What you need
to compare here is the so-called "C-rating" (capacity rating)
of the cell. All the C-rating means is that if you provide
this much current, the cell is full in an hour. A C.10 rating
would be the current over 10 hours. C.20 current over 20
hours, etc.e.g. you have a 3.8V LiPo cell that's 2000mAh. A
C-rating of 1 means you charge or discharge at 2A and it's
full/dead in an hour.So, putting batteries in parallel keeps
their voltage the same but "doubles" the current.However this
entire time we've been talking about current, when we should
be talking about power.If your 2000mAh battery has a C-rating
of 1, meaning you can charge it at maximum at the capacity of
the battery, then in parallel you have 4000mAh (2x2000mAh) at
3.8V, meaning you can safely charge it at 4000mAx3.8V =
~15WPut the same two cells in series. Now you have 2000mAh at
7.6V. How fast can you charge it? 2000mAx7.6V = ~15W.Consumer
electronics don't need a high C-rating because the cells
don't need to charge/discharge at extremely high rates (as
they would in a quadcopter, for example).The main benefit of
putting cells in series is that you raise the voltage, which
lowers the current and thus means you can use smaller (and
cheaper) wires to carry the same power.Putting the cells in
parallel would increase the current for the same power, but
it does not change the C-rating and thus the amount of power
you can safely put into the cells.
[deleted]
bluthru - 2 hours ago
Why aren't they doing this?
fiatpandas - 2 hours ago
Maybe it's too materially inefficient to cut an L shaped
electrode.
MBCook - 2 hours ago
That?s my assumption. It?s probably much easier to fab two
batteries to fit the space available in the phone than to use
just one and leave empty space or have it made in an ?exotic?
shape like a non-rectangle.
nsxwolf - 3 hours ago
Do you really need to hold it up to your face like I've been
seeing? The reviewers look so awkward and uncomfortable. I was
hoping it would see your face laying on the desk and whatnot.
gehsty - 2 hours ago
You have to point the sensor towards your face and look at the
screen.So far feels pretty natural, 70-80% time the phone is
unlocked before I think ?is the phone unlocked? the rest of the
time I forget I need to glance (literally glance with your eyes)
at the phone, which I think comes from muscle memory of from
unlocking with touchid and not looking at the phone while it
unlocks...Passive security, will become standard across screen
based interfaces in the next 5-10yrs...
dom96 - 3 minutes ago
I'm curious about the battery usage of this. If it's constantly
looking for faces, won't this drain the battery significantly?
valuearb - 2 hours ago
You need to look at it.Just like when you use it.
JustSomeNobody - 2 hours ago
I can't tell if you're being passive aggressive or not.Many,
many people have pointed out that looking directly at the phone
(as needed by Face ID), is NOT the only way to use a phone.
Sometimes one just wants to glance down at the screen to see a
notification. Watch Nilay's review and you'll see what I mean.
derefr - 2 hours ago
You look at the phone to unlock it; notifications still
display when the phone is locked. I believe waking up the
phone just involves raising it a bit (like in the Watch),
along with some light-sensor heuristic (like in the AirPods.)
Or, y?know, pressing the sleep button.
calibration263 - 2 hours ago
You can also wake the phone up now by tapping the
display(similar to the watch). Also it might be
configurable in settings but the notification content is
hidden on the X when the phone is locked, after FaceID they
become visible.
ClassyJacket - 1 hours ago
>You look at the phone to unlock it; notifications still
display when the phone is locked.Actually, by default they
don't display the content of notifications until it
recognises your face. But you may be able to turn this off.
nsxwolf - 2 hours ago
I never unlock my phone by picking it up, holding it in front
of my face, looking at it, and then putting my thumb on the
sensor.I pick it up off my desk with my thumb on the home
button and it's unlocked long before I start using the phone.I
also frequently use my phone laying flat on the desk, reaching
over and just pressing the home button.
jaux - 2 hours ago
> Repairability 6 out of 10That's a big surprise to me!
duskwuff - 1 hours ago
iFixit has historically rated Apple devices rather harshly for
their (non-)repairability. 6/10, from them, is high praise.
elicash - 1 hours ago
iPhones have gotten 6's and 7's in recent years.
abritinthebay - 56 minutes ago
mainly, I think, they realized it's a trend and they can't
just give every single thing 0/10 each time.
doe88 - 2 hours ago
It seems this is the second times after the Apple Watch 3 in
september that the Wifi/BT module is branded with the Apple name.
Does someone knows if they have designed their own Wifi/BT chipset
or if it is licensed from somebody else?
wmeredith - 2 hours ago
They're def doing something of their own with BT. The airpods use
it, but it's been highly modified.
mankash666 - 3 hours ago
Truly impressive. Smaller, yet faster than the competition.
Surprising how many of the chips are now internal Apple components:
1. CPU/GPU 2. Auxiliary Machine Learning/AI chip 3. NAND controller
4. IR Deapth sensor & signal processing chip 5. Power management IC
(surprising that Apple is doing Analog IC design too!)Axiom in the
tech world is that "Apple is a software company that builds
hardware". Above is ample evidence of Apple being a hardware-heavy
innovation machine.A software company building hardware is Google,
and it's Pixel phones show
wnevets - 2 hours ago
With how buggy iOS 11 is/was, it really does show where their
focus has been.
mandeepj - 2 hours ago
Software bugs can be fixed with iterations but
hardware....nope. Not without a recall
[deleted]
cjsuk - 1 hours ago
Clever software workarounds can save a board respin if you?re
lucky. I?ve seen it done before.
coldtea - 1 hours ago
Why, how buggy iOS 11 is/was? Works perfectly fine for me on my
7+.
ForrestN - 2 hours ago
I think this personification of companies as people is
misleading. Whose "focus?"Do you mean you think that the same
people within Apple are working on both hardware and software,
and are focusing more on hardware? Or that you think many
people who write software have been re-educated, re-assigned,
and are now working on hardware?I assume that the size of
Apple's teams working on iPhone are limited by more than
resources, and the recruitment pools are totally separate, so
it's not like they're spending too much on hardware engineers
and can't afford enough software engineers, right?I just don't
really know how you can conceive of such a massive company as
having an obviously zero-sum "focus" like a person has.
brians - 2 hours ago
Quality comes from feedback control systems. Quality of
design comes from management oversight and correction. Fan-in
is a concern. Orphaned teams become a concern at a tenth
Apple?s scale. Informal networks and approval based on trust
of people rather than examination of product is a concern.
Executive attention is expensive.
Spooky23 - 2 hours ago
The hardware engineering is much more deliberate and well
planned/orchestrated than the software.IMO it?s less ?focus?
and more having to rely on third party manufacturers who will
push back due to liability.iOS 11 is a beta quality product.
One org that I?m familiar with has a 5x increase in help desk
calls and replacements, mostly around the voice phone
components failing.
alvis - 3 hours ago
Strategically, I think Apple has made a right move by
internalising all the hardware designs. That said, as many have
suggested, the new iPhone is no more than just another faster,
smaller, and costlier.
criddell - 3 hours ago
Doesn't Samsung do that as well though? They make screens, and
CPUs and many of the other components in a modern phone, don't
they?I'm wondering when Apple will start making their own
camera sensors.
mankash666 - 2 hours ago
Multiple differences between Samsung and Apple:1. Samsung was
a semiconductor maker, that successfully moved up to make
phones. Apple was a integrator of third party chips that
successfully went down to own many of the chips.2. Apple's
chips are significantly better than the competition. Partly
because the chip division has a captive customer whose
requirements are more apparent, plus no middlemen thanks to
the vertical integration3. Samsung's components need to serve
multiple segments of the phone market, and other external
customers. Apple only builds for Apple's specs4. Every new
breakthrough on the iPhone has been because of a chip that
Apple alone had. From the very first iPhone's capacitive
touch sensors to the new IR sensor system, no one else has
the access for a couple phone cycles. Apple put out a 64 bit
ARM processor even before arm had finalized the instruction
set
Vogtinator - 2 hours ago
4. Is absolutely wrong in every aspect. Most "innovation"
was bought tech (primesense, for instance). The ARMv8 ISA
was finalized ages before the chips got designed. Middle of
2011 IIRC.
mankash666 - 2 hours ago
True - They bought 3rd party companies with the tech.
Still doesn't change the observation that they made it
better, and tailored it specifically for the iPhone. None
of those sensors have drop in replacements. And Apple put
out the 64bit proc prior to ARM having IP --> FACt
muninn_ - 3 hours ago
Basically, yeah, they don't make the OS. I think the parent
comment was more aimed at software companies. Though, you
could look at it from the opposite point of view as well.
valuearb - 2 hours ago
Samsung's screens are excellent, but their CPU/GPU
performance is a generation (or more) behind Apple. Plus they
are way behind in integrated functionality such as motion
coprocessor, ai processing, and secure enclave.I don't know
how true this is, but I've heard that the Samsung OLED screen
on the iPhone X is significantly better than the ones Samsung
puts on it's flagship phones, in color fidelity especially.
Partly because of Apple's attention to detail, but also
because Samsung's flagship phones ship in much higher volume
than the X is expected to.
sundvor - 1 hours ago
Yeah the S8 and S8 Plus had (has?) significant top/side
edge colour shift.(Speaking as the owner of the Plus, who
has his first replaced and the second is somewhat better
but not perfect. Wife's S8 is also affected but she doesn't
see it or doesn't care. I would still take that slight
imperfection over the horrid notch though).
MBCook - 2 hours ago
I can believe it. The quality is all about cost. What level
of rejected units can you accept for price $X? If Apple can
pay more (due to cost, scale, or just where the price of
the phone is allocated between parts) they can buy a better
screen.
vilmosi - 1 hours ago
>>> I don't know how true this is, but I've heard that the
Samsung OLED screen on the iPhone X is significantly better
than the ones Samsung puts on it's flagship phonesI can't
believe that. I just can't.All iPhone X reviews mention the
screen tech difference, all of them say how they don't
notice a difference.
valuearb - 1 hours ago
Most reviewers (and people) don't appreciate color
fidelity. Jon Gruber was just talking about how Google
spent the time/effort to make the colors of the Pixel
display more accurate and natural, and then people
complain they don't "pop" and look as good as the super-
saturated colors on other android phones.
vilmosi - 54 minutes ago
>>> Most reviewers (and people) don't appreciate color
fidelityIt's not about "appreciating". It's that it
doesn't matter. Everyone talked about retina resolution,
then about "true colors".Today we have Samsung making all
the screens.The point is, nobody except professionals
care.
GeekyBear - 2 hours ago
Samsung has a problem with adding features to their devices
that are simply not well executed.For instance, from the NY
Times review of the Galaxy Note 8:>Some of the biometrics,
including the ability to unlock your phone by scanning your
face or irises, are so poorly executed that they feel like
marketing gimmicks as opposed to actual security features.htt
ps://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/technology/personaltech/s...
MBCook - 2 hours ago
Not quite. Samsung fabs chips. They may even design chips.
But they don?t work ?together?.Samsung makes 5 processors and
puts them on the open market.The another part of Samsung buys
those chips off the shelf and used them in their phones.My
understanding is the two units don?t work together hand in
hand like Apples teams do, they work together the way Samsung
and HTC do.
gehsty - 3 hours ago
Just smaller and faster with new technology, never before seen
delivered at this size, capability or scale.What does Apple
have to do to impress people? Do all this then give the phones
away for free?
[deleted]
chaostheory - 2 hours ago
Louis CK - everything is amazing... but no one is
happy.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUBtKNzoKZ
hinkley - 2 hours ago
Easily one of his best bits and he did it on a talk show.
chaostheory - 1 hours ago
It helped spawn an app too: https://theymadethat.com
vilmosi - 1 hours ago
>>> Just smaller and faster with new technology, never before
seen delivered at this size, capability or scale.That was
happening every year and marginal at best.
hinkley - 2 hours ago
People used to bitch about why people thought the MacBook was
so cool when it was ?only? 5mm thinner than anything else on
the market.The low end doesn?t understand why people pay so
much more for fit and finish.Except automobiles. Everyone
seems to accept and even approve of the high end for cars.
TylerE - 2 hours ago
Fit and finish on many "high end" cars is actually pretty
abysmal. Especially basically anything Italian.
tigershark - 2 hours ago
Oh..I didn't know that your Ferrari had a shit finish,
you must have been quite unlucky...
serf - 1 hours ago
I can personally attest to the poor quality of
Lamborghini paint and coating from 98 til 2011.The dashes
split apart, all the clear coat on the carbon elements
falls off, the paint oxidizes.Park a 2003 Murcielago next
to a 98 Lexus or Toyota (of any kind). You'll be real
surprised which one weathered better.Anyway, I digress,
but I can agree with the point that 'high end car' is a
lot different than 'high quality car' or 'long lasting
car'.
tigershark - 55 minutes ago
So do you mean as soon as it was sold in 1998 to Audi, a
German group, right? And what it has to do with the
"abysmal" finish of Italian high end car?
cjsuk - 1 hours ago
My Fiat is awful! ;)
noncoml - 2 hours ago
Why do you get so defensive? What in ?is no more than just
another faster, smaller, and costlier? is not accurate?
bluthru - 2 hours ago
>That said, as many have suggested, the new iPhone is no more
than just another faster, smaller, and costlier.FaceID is a
huge leap and affects how people use their phones. The phone
can behave differently if you are looking at it. For example:
showing sensitive info only if you're looking at it, and not
playing notification sounds as loud (or at all) if you see the
notification as it comes in.
GeekyBear - 2 hours ago
There's an interesting article from the folks at Wired who
have been attempting to fool Face ID without any success so
far.https://www.wired.com/story/tried-to-beat-face-id-and-
failed...
austenallred - 1 hours ago
> the new iPhone is no more than just another faster, smaller,
and costlier.I'm sold. I'll take it.
abritinthebay - 1 hours ago
> "Apple is a software company that builds hardware". Above is
ample evidence of Apple being a hardware-heavy innovation
machine.I disagree with both.Apple is a design company that
builds hardware and software together so the design works as
intended.
JustSomeNobody - 2 hours ago
Who thinks Apple is a software company? Because they're wrong.
Apple started off making hardware and they've always made
hardware. They make software to compliment their hardware.
draw_down - 1 hours ago
Even they claim it. It?s that old Alan Kay quote, you know.
wmeredith - 2 hours ago
This. They've become more and more a hardware company as they
give away almost of their software now to move more IRL
gadgets.
ksk - 3 hours ago
Indeed, Apple is excellent at integration. But at the system
level, that leaves them with fewer partners who can help with the
business side of things. They had to become excellent in
operations, strategy and sales, which they did as well.
hinkley - 2 hours ago
> Power management IC (surprising that Apple is doing Analog IC
design too!)Have you seen the tear down of the old MacBook power
bricks? Check it out if you haven?t. There?s a lot of tech in
there to improve efficiency (ie keep that tiny brick from
melting)
devonkim - 1 hours ago
And despite all that engineering their reliability was terrible
due to various plug design problems with the predecessor to
MagSafe or the cords getting damaged from point stress.
Meanwhile, Dell and HP make mediocre stuff that somehow hardly
has such a problem by using much thicker gauge wiring and
tougher rubber / plastics.
tinus_hn - 14 minutes ago
Dell power supplies, cables, receptacles and batteries fail
all the time and I've seen the docking station connectors
burn from shorts.
cjsuk - 1 hours ago
They?re shit. The inrush current is so high it actually damages
the plugs with arcing!
abritinthebay - 1 hours ago
You're describing the cheap Chinese made knock-offs. They
look almost perfectly identical and generally you can only
tell by opening them up.They're awful. There are a LOT of
teardowns of those. It's scary.
robin_reala - 1 hours ago
I bought a MacBook on eBay that came with a fake charger.
Had to threaten to report them before they sent me a real
one.
artursapek - 1 hours ago
You must have bought yours on Amazon :)
pjc50 - 2 hours ago
There's a lot to be said for "if you want something done
properly, do it yourself". Hard to do in a connected ecosystem
but Apple has the level of platform control that they can do
whatever they feel they need to do without having to consider
partners, competitors or exogenous forces.
gehsty - 2 hours ago
I think Apple explicitly position themselves as the combination
of hardware and software and want as much vertical integration as
possible... the more hardware they control the better they can
make software to run on it.
Illniyar - 2 hours ago
"Axiom in the tech world is that "Apple is a software company
that builds hardware". "Is that really a common belief? I know
many people who think the opposite - apple is a hardware
company.In fact Tim Cook went out of his way several times to
remind people that apple isn't a hardware company.
gurkendoktor - 1 hours ago
In terms of profits, yes.But many of us don't buy Apple for the
hardware, but because we want to stay in their software
ecosystem. I'd rather use a Nexus running iOS than an iPhone X
running Android, and I'm even more invested in macOS. That
Apple builds nice hardware is a bonus for me (but I'd honestly
prefer better software right now).I mean, on paper Apple is
making more money from hardware than from software, but how do
you measure hardware sales that only happened because of the
software?
selectodude - 1 hours ago
Apple has been very serious about how they?re a hardware
company vs a software company for like 30+ years now.
Literally the first thing SPJ did after coming back was kill
the Mac clones program. They?re obsessed with the feel of the
hardware in every way. The software is just a platform.
DRW_ - 1 hours ago
Actually, Steve Jobs emphasised a few times that the reason
why Apple was successful is because of the
software.https://youtu.be/dEeyaAUCyZs
godzillabrennus - 32 minutes ago
Judging from how bad the software is getting I?d wager
they forgot this.
DRW_ - 10 minutes ago
Yeah, I'd agree unfortunately.
jrs95 - moments ago
At least it's not Windows. I'm amazed at how something as
basic as Bluetooth has been completely fucked for me
since I got a PC. On no other platform have my Bose
QC35s, AirPods, or wireless Logitech headset had issues.
On Windows 10, they hardly work at all. Ironically the
only device that works for longer than a few seconds
before losing audio is my AirPods, which I still have to
reconnect frequently to get the audio o actually come
through.
thevardanian - 29 minutes ago
They're successful because of the software only because
the hardware is ancillary to their software ecosystem.
Their hardware makes their software run much more
effectively than most of their competitors, and therefore
acts as a major barrier to entry. I don't think there's a
single tech company more completely integrated and whole
than Apple. That's why they can emphasize on experience
rather than just specs as they're selling more than just
software, or hardware.
DigitalJack - 1 hours ago
"Is that really a common belief?"It was in the pre-iphone era.
hyperbovine - 1 hours ago
The axiom is that people will sit around debating which is the
correct axiom on tech boards ad infinitum.
yndoendo - 2 minutes ago
Apple is tuple(Hardware,Software) = product. So simply a
product company.
austenallred - 1 hours ago
I see it as the reverse. Apple is definitely a hardware company
that makes a solid OS and generally makes mediocre software
outside of that
valuearb - 1 hours ago
Yea, but that OS is everything. They barely make any software
outside of it. And it's the best mobile OS by far.
computerex - 42 minutes ago
> And it's the best mobile OS by far.And yet Android
dominates the market share. I don't think iOS is the best
mobile OS, let alone the best by far.
shorsher - 8 minutes ago
I don't think Android market share is enough of a metric
to determine the quality of iOS. There are so many
different cheap android phones to choose from, and people
do not buy them because Android is a better mobile OS.
rufugee - 1 hours ago
Typing this from a Pixel 2 XL after having been a happy Pixel XL
owner. The 2 is truly the greatest phone I've ever owned, and
that includes iphones along the way. If this is what you get with
a software company building hardware, I'd say keep it up.
enraged_camel - 15 minutes ago
Once again, anecdotal evidence is not data.We have confirmed
reports that Pixel 2's build quality is...
questionable:https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/10/google-is-
investigat...
microcolonel - 47 minutes ago
If iPhones ran today's Android, they would lead the pack; but
because they run iOS, they're pretty MOR in terms of everyday
performance and responsiveness (and perhaps especially
disappointing WRT battery life). This is quite a role reversal
from the situation five years ago.
pat2man - 3 hours ago
Amazing to see everything shrink (except for the battery). Reminds
me of a quote referencing Blackberry falling behind the iPhone:
"Imagine their surprise when they disassembled an iPhone for the
first time and found that the phone was battery with a tiny logic
board strapped to it."https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2043613
joering2 - 2 hours ago
The new concept seems to be dual-battery.I'm sure they
investigated designing simply L-shaped battery but for some
reason they decided to go with two batteries instead.I wonder if
its because one is supplying power to some critical circuits
while other one isn't, or since display and battery are #1s
replacement on these phones, they simply run some stats and
decided that splitting cells into two separate battery boxes will
help them cut the costs down the line when it will come to
battery replacement.
Qworg - 2 hours ago
Manufacturing costs are the most likely reason. Prismatic
cells are much less costly to produce in a rectangular format
vs. an L shape.
joering2 - 1 hours ago
I don't know, but putting 4 cells into one box, versus 2
cells in 2 boxes at the iPhone scale might be more
expensive.My take is that still less expensive that constant
replacement (warranty, recalls) that they do on daily basis.
snewk - 1 hours ago
it could be related to power draw inconsistencies in cells
with concave angles
mavhc - 3 hours ago
iPhone X(Box) 2013:
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Xbox+One+Kinect+Teardown/197...
2017:
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone+X+Teardown/98975?revi...
skeletonjelly - 1 hours ago
FWIW this is v2 of the Kinect, the X teardown mentions Primesense
was bought after v1 came out.
[deleted]
djrogers - 3 hours ago
I gotta say, that is a beautiful device!