Wired
According to reports, South Korean suppliers are becoming more and more important for Apple’s iPhone smartphones. The dismantling of the latest iPhone 12 Pro shows that Korean-made parts accounted for 26.8% of the total value of the mobile phone, which is a significant increase compared to last year’s model, and the proportion of Korean parts in the whole machine , Which accounts for a higher proportion of parts than those made in the United States.
The reason why Apple uses a higher proportion of Korean-made parts is mainly because the company decided to use organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology in the entire iPhone 12 series released this year. These screens are produced by the Korean company Samsung Display. And provided by LG Display.
Foreign media cooperated with Tokyo research institute Fomalhaut Techno Solutions to disassemble the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro released in October this year.
According to data released by Fomalhaut, the cost of the high-end iPhone 12 Pro is US$406 (approximately 2665 yuan), of which South Korean and US parts accounted for 26.8% and 21.9%, respectively. Compared with the iPhone 11 with LCD display that was launched last fall, the proportion of Korean parts in the total value increased by 9.1%, while the proportion of American parts fell by 3.9%.
This result shows the importance of Asian component suppliers to the iPhone. As Apple replaced the previously used LCD screen with an OLED screen in the iPhone 12, Samsung Display’s contribution value has increased significantly. South Korean suppliers headed by Samsung occupy a global leading position in current OLED technology.
Compared with the iPhone SE2 that went on the market this spring, the share of Korean parts in the whole machine has increased by 22.4%, while the share of parts made in Japan has dropped by 12.1%. Apple has used LCD screens in its lower-end iPhone SE2 and previous products. These screens are mainly from Japanese manufacturers including Japan Display. In addition to the display, Samsung also provides memory chips for the Apple iPhone 12.
However, although it no longer supplies Apple with screen parts, Japanese technology companies still contribute a lot to the iPhone. The disassembly results show that Sony is the main supplier of CMOS image sensors used in the three camera lenses of the iPhone 12 Pro, including wide-angle and telephoto lenses. The price of these sensors is about US$5.4 to US$7.4 each.
The iPhone 12 series of mobile phones also use many components and high-performance chips for 5G network compatibility. In order to control noise, the circuit has been protected, the equipment uses many passive components, some of which are similar in size to the tip of a ballpoint pen. In terms of the production of these originals, Japanese companies have an advantage and are the main suppliers of related originals in the iPhone 12. iPhone 12 also uses multilayer ceramic capacitors produced by Murata Manufacturing and power inductors produced by Taiyo Yuden. More than 1600 passive components can be found on the circuit board of the device.
iPhone 12 not only supports 5G network, but also has a compact design. The weight of the device is 162 grams, which is 32 grams less than iPhone 11. This is mainly due to the use of a smaller vibration motor and battery. The size of the motor is about one-third smaller and the weight is more than ten grams lighter than the previous product.
In order to make more space for other components, the battery capacity of iPhone 12 has been reduced by 10%. The battery cells are provided by ATL, a subsidiary of Japan’s TDK company established in Hong Kong.
Although the battery capacity has become smaller, Apple said that the new iPhone can play music and videos for a long time like earlier models. Analysts said that the reason why the battery has become smaller but the battery life has not been reduced is that the new machine uses more advanced power-saving measures, such as the use of the latest 5nm chips, and abandoning the previous 7nm chips.