Apple iPad: The FCC Dissects it So We Don't Have To
by Brian Klug on April 2, 2010 4:25 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
The FCC recently published photos of the internals of Apple's upcoming iPad due to be released tomorrow. In the original FCC document all of the chips in the device were covered with grey boxes, a little bit of Photoshop revealed what we wanted to see.
The initial details aren't all that surprising. The iPad is mostly screen and battery, the motherboard itself appears to be smartphone sized. The bulk of the cost of this device is in the display and the casing, which means Apple is making a killing off each device sold. It makes sense given that Apple had little interest in selling low margin netbooks, but this is a different story entirely.
The Apple A4 CPU you see above is bordered by a pair of Toshiba NAND flash chips. The ARM markings on the A4 should put to rest any rumors that this chip wasn't ARM based. We also see the same Broadcom I/O controller used on the iPhone/iPod Touch.
We're expecting the arrival of our iPad tomorrow, but luckily with the FCC's documents published we don't have to risk destroying ours to have a peek at the inside. More details coming!
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soxfan - Friday, April 2, 2010 - link
In the advent of electronic discovery, similar issues occured when lawyers would try to redact electronic documents in PDF format by simply adding a black line as a layer on top of certain text. This issue was widely published, and resulted in the production of software (now commerically available) to handle this specific issue.Good to see that the government is still bucking the trend by failing to use common sense (seemingly by choice!).
surt - Friday, April 2, 2010 - link
peek = look furtivelypeak = top of a mountain
Anand Lal Shimpi - Friday, April 2, 2010 - link
That was my mistake, fixed :)Take care,
Anand
ganeshts - Friday, April 2, 2010 - link
The latest rumour mill seems to suggest this!http://www.edn.com/blog/400000040/post/880053688.h...
Dianoda - Friday, April 2, 2010 - link
One would think they could have done something useful with all that empty space in the chassis. You know, something like incorporating those SD card reader and VGA adapters that cost $0.50 to make but $30 a piece to own. Or a proper USB port or two. Ouch.With the way Apple cuts desirable, convenient, could-not-be-more-obvious connectivity from the base unit and replaces that same functionality with accessories (not included in the box, of course), they could probably still turn a profit even if they sell less than a 100 of these things. Genius, madness, sadistic, hilarious, and absolutely despicable.
Tegeril - Friday, April 2, 2010 - link
You think the iPad is thick enough to have a VGA port? And that it wont make the chassis of the device ugly having a VGA port built into it? Ugh.ganeshts - Friday, April 2, 2010 - link
They have enough space to put in HDMI or at least mini-HDMI! But, then, the silicon is so weak that it probably can't do any HD stuff (or, rather, Steve Jobs doesn't want you to connect your iPad to the TV without buying some overpriced official adapter from Apple!)nswprop - Saturday, April 3, 2010 - link
yeah..stevie is teaching me so much about the technique in squeezing and juicing and milking the customers! He is my GOD!!You will get your VGA and HDMI ports when he is done squeezing the tits of his cash cows with this first Gen IPAD.
MDE - Sunday, April 4, 2010 - link
If you want to play your videos on a TV you need an Apple TV for that. Fork over another $230 for that privilege.Zan Lynx - Friday, April 2, 2010 - link
Good design means taking away everything that does not add toward the goal.Less stuff means less cost, less to go wrong, less to document and fewer openings for liquid to get into. For the user it means less to remember.
For example, "Where did I put the DVI to VGA adapter or that remote control that came with my Macbook Pro? It's somewhere in my laptop bag. Probably."
A tablet like this does not need VGA, HDMI, DisplayPort, Ethernet, PS/2, or USB. To use those things you use a real laptop or desktop system.