The work on the S1 chip didn’t end there, though, apparently, as ABI Research has done even more work to find out what, exactly, makes the S1 tick. While the previous teardown revealed that the chip offers 512MB of RAM and other important information, there was still more to take apart. As a result, the group determined the source of 30 different individual parts within the small 26mm x 28mm chip:
“Apple and/or their suppliers have designed and manufactured a 26 mm x 28 mm package that is very unique. Let’s consider its construction for a moment. We have a common motherboard to which all of the components (wafer scale packages, PoPs, BGAs, etc.) have been attached. The entire motherboard, with all of its components, is then overmolded with a packaging compound containing silica or alumina spheres suspended in a resin. We see this same type of material in conventional IC packaging, but we have never observed this being used over a 26 mm x 28 mm motherboard.“
An interesting bit of the in-depth look revealed more about the manufacturing process of the APL0778 application processor. According to the report, it was manufactured by Samsung’s 28-nanometer process, which is the same process that was used for devices like the iPhone 5s. While Ars Technica notes that this is far from cutting-edge right now, it does outline the growth that can happen with the Apple Watch’s subsequent models:
“…if Apple goes with a newer process in next-generation Apple Watch hardware, it should actually have a fair bit of headroom to reduce power consumption, improve performance, reduce the amount of physical space the chip needs, or some combination of all three.“
If built on a smaller-than-28nm process technology, it would permit faster performance, lower power consumption and a smaller die size, potentially freeing up room for some of the health sensors that reportedly didn’t make it into the current version of the Watch.
Seen below: the sealed S1 package.
So what is your thoughts ?
Source: Chipworks
