It took several days before new owners of the new iPhone SE got their hands on their units. Presumably, they are happy and must have been using them since the day they arrived. There are also a few out there who are excited because they can pry it open and can take a look inside their shiny new iPhone. Chipworks did exactly that.
Apple has already announced that several parts of the iPhone SE are similar to its other phone models. These include the A9 processor and the 12MP iSight camera, which are on the iPhone 6s, while the size is very similar to the iPhone 5s.
Chipworks stated in its report that aside from the reported similarities, their tear-down of the latest iPhone also showed that the 2GB LPDDR4 SK Hynix memory module is the same as the one in the 6s. However, date stamps on the electronic parts also tell their own story.
The processor seems to be manufactured around August or September of last year while the memory module was built around December and the whole unit was assembled by the end of January.
The 16GB flash chip was made by Toshiba, and was manufactured during the time they were still using the 19nm process. The Japanese tech manufacturing giant is now using 15nm process for their chips.
Aside from the small size passing down from the iPhone 5s, the touch-screen controller was also passed down to the iPhone SE. However, other Apple products were using similar chips, such as the previous iPod, other iPhones, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and iPad mini.
The NFC components, 6-axis inertial sensor, modem and RF transceiver and the audio ICs were all identified as the same components used in the iPhone 6s.
Chipwork did find something new in the iPhone SE -- its power management IC is new.
The company praised Apple for its ingenuity in creating a new iPhone out of parts they currently have in stock, and it is likely not an easy task.
The 4-inch Apple iPhone SE has a price tag of US$399 for its 16GB internal storage variant and US$499 for the 64GB model. It is as fast as an iPhone 6s and as small as the iPhone 5s.
