The article below summarize key aspects of the new Apple watch. It is important to remember that Apple goal is to extend its ecosystem to a new interface- the watch. It pushing the manufacturing envelope further-
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”The encapsulation of the entire printed circuit board assembly into a single monolithic module is especially noteworthy,” Keller said. “Whereas many products might have some form of semi-flexible encapsulant applied to the board for protection, shock and vibration purposes, Apple has effectively created one large IC out of the entire assembly. This encapsulation is done by encasing the board in the same plastic/epoxy material used for conventional ICs. Indeed, many of the devices found inside the assembly are already encapsulated, effectively creating an IC-within-an-IC affair."
Ron
Insightful, timely, and accurate semiconductor consulting.
Posted
by IT-Online on May 5, 2015
The
much-anticipated new Apple Watch has the lowest hardware costs compared to
retail price of any Apple phone IHS Technology has researched, according to a
preliminary estimate by IHS and its Teardown Mobile Handsets Intelligence
Service.The teardown of the Apple Watch Sport by IHS Technology estimates that
the actual hardware costs are only about 24 percent of the manufacturer’s suggested
retail price (MSRP). Estimated hardware cost to MSRP ratios for other Apple
products reviewed by IHS are in the range of 29% to 38%.
The
teardown of the Apple Watch Sport 38 mm by IHS Technology shows a bill of
materials of $81.20 with the cost of production rising to $83.70 when the $2.50
manufacturing expense is added. The retail price of the Apple Watch Sport 38 mm
is $349.00. The
IHS Technology analysis does not include logistics, amortised capital expenses,
overhead, SG&A, R&D, software, IP licensing and other variables
throughout the supply chain such as the EMS provider.
“It
is fairly typical for a first-generation product rollout to have a higher
retail price versus hardware cost,” says Kevin Keller, senior principal
analyst-materials and cost benchmarking services for IHS Technology. “While
retail prices always tend to decrease over time, the ratio for the Apple Watch is lower than
what we saw for the iPhone 6 Plus and other new Apple products, and could be of
great benefit to Apple’s bottom line if sales match the interest the Apple
Watch has generated.”
There
are several new features and manufacturing methods used in the Apple Watch
Sport, including: a Pulse Oximeter, Force Touch sensor, “Taptic Engine”
feedback, encapsulated modular printed circuit board (PCB) assembly and
stacked-die integrated circuits (IC). “While
these features have been promoted by Apple and none are necessarily
revelatory,” Keller says. “It is noteworthy that many features are appearing
for the first time – in combination – in one device. It could be a bellwether
for other future Apple products.”
The
Taptic Engine built into the Apple Watch, and integrated with the loudspeaker,
contains a linear actuator which provides haptic feedback and vibrations. “We
found that the device consumes a substantial amount of space inside the watch,
and we would expect further miniaturization of this function in future iterations
of the product,” he adds.
The
preliminary results of the teardown do not show any big surprises in the IC
content; all of the manufacturers identified so far were expected. The Apple
Watch NAND memory is a Toshiba Flash 8GB and DRAM is a Micron SDRAM 512Mb.
Broadcom, STMicro, Maxim, Analogue Devices and NXP are used for connectivity
and interface. One noteworthy change is a shift from Invensense to STMicro for
the accelerometer/gyroscope.
“The
display is LG’s plastic OLED display and the touchscreen overlay module is a
TPK Slim GG utilising their ‘Force Touch’ technology,” Keller says. “Force
Touch was recently incorporated into the latest MacBook and is expected to be
found in the next iPhone generation.”
The
fabrication of the enclosure continues the Apple “Unibody” tradition of
precision machining from a single block of aluminium. Apple is now extending
this design philosophy into a highly miniaturized realm, mating the legacy of
precision watchmaking with Apple’s specialized manufacturing practices. As with
their previous products, Apple has taken fabrication techniques – once
typically restricted to low-volume manufacturing and prototyping – and scaled
them into a high-volume production environment.
‘”The
encapsulation of the entire printed circuit board assembly into a single
monolithic module is especially noteworthy,” Keller said. “Whereas many
products might have some form of semi-flexible encapsulant applied to the board
for protection, shock and vibration purposes, Apple has effectively created one
large IC out of the entire assembly. This encapsulation is done by encasing the
board in the same plastic/epoxy material used for conventional ICs. Indeed,
many of the devices found inside the assembly are already encapsulated,
effectively creating an IC-within-an-IC affair.
“To
provide electromagnetic shielding, the encapsulated PCB assembly is further
treated with a metalized coating deposited over the surface,” Keller adds.
“This shielding process is used in place of conventional stamped sheet metal shielding,
saving a significant amount of space, as well as cutting down slightly on
weight.”
The
Apple Watch is equipped with inductive charging technology and is being shipped
with a wireless charger, based on Apple’s own proprietary MagSafe charging technology.
“It
has been speculated that the Apple Watch could be compatible with the Wireless
Power Consortium’s (WPC) Qi wireless charging specification,” says Vicky
Yussuff, analyst-power supplies & wireless power for IHS. “AppleInsider
recently shared a video which appears to show the Apple Watch MagSafe charger
being used to charge the Moto 360 smart watch. This would suggest that Apple’s
charger is Qi-compatible.
“Apple
has not been announced as a member of the WPC or even a supporter of the
consortium, so it is unlikely that they have produced a ‘certified’ Qi product.
However, the Qi specification is an open standard meaning it is still possible
for Apple to build products which are compatible to the specification. This
could be the case with the Apple Watch MagSafe charger,” Yussuff says.
“Although it cannot be verified if both the Moto 360 smartwatch and
Magsafe wireless charger used in the video were both un-modified ‘off the
shelf’ products, this could potentially be another boost for the wireless charging
industry looking to increase interoperability.”
The
Apple Watch battery appears to be somewhat simpler to replace than the
batteries in many other Apple products. As long as the display can be carefully
removed, the battery is attached with a simple snap-on connector.
