iPhone 7 Said to Expand Use of Single-Chip Electromagnetic Shielding
Apple is working on electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding that will individually shield most of the device's major chips, helping to maintain the iPhone's performance as its power and complexity and thus potential for interference increases (via ETNews). The company has used EMI shielding on large portions of the iPhone's circuit board in the past, and a few individual chips have included their own shielding, but the iPhone 7 will apparently include a broader array of single-chip EMI shields, from radio frequency to wireless LAN and Bluetooth chips.
South Korean manufacturers StatsChipPac and Amkor are both said to be responsible for the production of the EMI shielding process on the iPhone 7 line. The cost of that production is also predicted to increase with the intricacies introduced using the technology.
A production line in Amkor Technology
“As clock signals of digital chips have increased and as diverse functions such as 3D-touch and others have recently added, reduction of electromagnetic waves have emerged as major topic of this industry.” said a representative of this industry. “As other Smartphone businesses might be looking to apply EMI Shield technology to major chips just as Apple did, packaging and other related equipment industries will benefit a lot from this.”
According to the report, Apple decided to use the EMI shielding technology due to its effectiveness in preventing interference in wireless communication. Individual EMI shields can also allow for "more elaborate" and more densely packed circuit boards allowing for smaller devices or larger batteries. Similar EMI shielding was applied to the S1 chip package used in the Apple Watch last year
In regards to the general manufacturing of the next-generation iPhone, today a report stated that Apple has already lined up its partners for both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Foxconn and Wistron are said to be heading up production on the 5.5-inch device, while Foxconn will join Pegatron in fulfilling orders for the 4.7-inch smartphone.
Popular Stories
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28.
The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
Last week, details about unreleased Apple devices and future iOS features were shared by Macworld. This week, we learned where the information came from, plus we have more findings from the leak.
As it turns out, an Apple prototype device running an early build of iOS 26 was sold, and the person who bought it shared the software. The OS has a version number of 23A5234w, and the first...
Software from an iPhone prototype running an early build of iOS 26 leaked last week, giving us a glimpse at future Apple devices and iOS features. We recapped device codenames in our prior article, and now we have a list of some of the most notable feature flags that were found in the software code.
In some cases, it's obvious what the feature flags are referring to, while some are more...
The first foldable iPhone will feature a series of design and hardware firsts for Apple, according to details shared by the Weibo leaker known as Digital Chat Station.
According to a new post, via machine translation, Apple is developing what the leaker describes as a "wide foldable" device, a term used to refer to a horizontally oriented, book-style foldable with a large internal display....
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. iOS 26.2 is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation iPhone SE.
The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
Apple is testing iOS 26.3, the next version of iOS 26 that will launch around January. Since iOS 26.3's testing is happening over the holidays, it is a smaller update with fewer features than we've seen in prior betas.
We've rounded up what's new so far, and we'll add to our list with subsequent betas if we come across any other features.
Transfer to Android
Apple is making it simpler...
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon.
Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week.
iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
Apple released the AirPods Max on December 15, 2020, meaning the over-ear headphones launched five years ago today. While the AirPods Max were updated with a USB-C port and new color options last year, followed by support for lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio this year, the headphones lack some of the features that have been introduced for newer generations of the regular AirPods and the ...
