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First iPhone 4S Image Sensor to Be Identified Comes from Sony

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Apr 12, 2001
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iphone_4s_camera_sensor_sony.jpg



Sony markings on iPhone 4S camera sensor die​
While iFixit performed the first thorough teardown of the iPhone 4S yesterday, Chipworks has now turned its more powerful equipment on the chips themselves, notably identifying Sony as the manufacturer of the 8-megapixel camera sensor in the first iPhone 4S they examined.
In order to get our readers the device manufacturer as soon as possible, rather than going through a fuming sulfuric acid chip deprocessing we chose to use our infrared microscope to look through the structure of this image sensor. What you see are the die markings on the base layer of the image sensor. The image isn't beautiful, but it's enough to tell us that Sony is in our particular iPhone 4S.
Click to expand...
OmniVision has historically been the supplier for the image sensor in the iPhone, but comments from Sony CEO Howard Stringer earlier this year started rumors that Sony might take over production for the iPhone 4S. Later reports had said the two companies would be splitting the load with OmniVision handling up to 90% of production, but issues at OmniVision were later said to have led to Apple shifting orders to Sony. Weak financial guidance from OmniVision further fueled rumors that it had lost at least a substantial portion of the iPhone business.

As Chipworks notes, a single test unit is not sufficient to establish the balance of production should Apple be employing a dual-supplier solution for the iPhone 4S camera sensor. But Sony is at least involved in production this time around, and additional results should give a better picture of where Apple's orders have fallen.

Article Link: First iPhone 4S Image Sensor to Be Identified Comes from Sony
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/10/14/first-iphone-4s-image-sensor-to-be-identified-comes-from-sony/
C

carmenodie

macrumors 6502a
Apr 25, 2008
775
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

This is sick. Who does his type of investigative work on an effing phone? Man!
 
HiRez

HiRez

macrumors 603
Jan 6, 2004
6,250
2,576
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This leads to the question of which sensor did I get in my iPhone 4S, and what differences are there between them? Is one superior to the other? There's certainly significant differences between Toshiba and LG displays and SSDs in the new MacBook Airs, for example.

----------
MultiMediaWill said:
Apple needs to enter the camera industry.
Click to expand...

They already did, a long time ago.
 
M

mayerkim

macrumors member
Dec 2, 2010
43
0
Southern California
This is an interesting turnout. After seeing all the crappy cameras that Sony makes, how did they manage to slip into my beautiful 4S and produce such wonderful pictures? Oh... Well, cause it's apple, duh! :)
 
notjustjay

notjustjay

macrumors 603
Sep 19, 2003
6,056
167
Canada, eh?
carmenodie said:
This is sick. Who does his type of investigative work on an effing phone? Man!
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You apparently fail to realize how valuable these services are to companies who care about their intellectual property.

Fun fact: I can see the Chipworks head office from where I sit right now. I wonder if this is where the analysis took place?
 
A

ArmCortexA8

macrumors 65816
Feb 18, 2010
1,074
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Terra Australis
Hi all

Great to see Apple going for a massive manufacturer like Sony for their sensors and with all honesty, higher quality and more features than anything that Omnivision could make. Obviously the production delays for the sensor were true, so Sony said hey let us take over the reigns. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come, maybe Sony in future as an agreement, and not just a one-off.

On the other hand surprised, Apple didn't go for Carl Zeiss Tessar lens as used in many Sony pocket digital cameras, but maybe the licensing was a pain and not a financial incentive. Nokia seem to be one of the few companies who use Carl Zeiss lenses in their mobile phones.
 
B

bertman

macrumors member
May 28, 2008
62
0
Laurel, Maryland
mayerkim said:
This is an interesting turnout.
Click to expand...

It's interesting that Sony is, in essence, directly helping their competitor succeed. But then again most Nikon cameras use Sony sensors.

mayerkim said:
After seeing all the crappy cameras that Sony makes, how did they manage to slip into my beautiful 4S and produce such wonderful pictures? Oh... Well, cause it's apple, duh! :)
Click to expand...

Dare I feed the troll? OK...

1) What crappy cameras are you referring to, being sure to compare the referenced camera(s) to the comparably-priced competitors*, and,

2) How, specifically, does an apple logo on the enclosure make it not crapy?

This should be good...

*Feel free to compare the A77/NEX-7 with cameras costing 2x-4x as much...
 
B

bertman

macrumors member
May 28, 2008
62
0
Laurel, Maryland
MultiMediaWill said:
Apple needs to enter the camera industry.
Click to expand...

My first digital camera in 1998 was an Apple 100 (I think that's what it was called) which was a re-branded Fujifilm - It produced 640x480 pixel crappy JPEGS - some of my favorite images from rock climbing trips that year with friends.

I don't think I've loaded more than a a few rolls of film since then.

Apple IS in the camera industry, as far as iPhone imaging goes. But, no, they will not be producing iCameras anytime soon. Unless they take some of their $100-ish B and buy out a camera division of some company...
 
A

apolloa

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Oct 21, 2008
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Time, because it rules EVERYTHING!
hmmmm, is this a safe thing for Apple to do? Using two different sensors on the same product could yield very different results.
Personally I do wish APple use some brains and stick with Sony. They have a great reputation with mobile phone cameras.
 
G

GabrielF

macrumors newbie
Oct 14, 2011
4
0
So for those keeping track:
  1. CPU Design - Apple A5 - US
  2. CPU Manufacturing - Samsung - Korea
  3. Battery assembly - Foxconn? - China
  4. RF Transceiver - Qualcomm - US
  5. Power Amplifier - Skyworks - US
  6. Power Amplifier - Avago - US
  7. SAW Filter - TriQuint - US
  8. PA Duplexer - TriQuint - US
  9. Power amplifier - Avago - US
  10. WiFi/Bluetooth Design - Broadcom - US
  11. WiFi/Bluetooth Manufacturing - Murata - Japan
  12. Flash memory - Toshiba - Japan
  13. RAM - Samsung - Korea OR
  14. RAM - Elpida - Japan
  15. Accelerometer - STMicroelectronics - Switzerland
  16. Gyroscope - STMicroelectronics - Switzerland
  17. Power management - Dialog - Germany
  18. Camera - Sony - Japan
  19. Touch sensor - Texas Instruments - US
  20. Vibrate motor - Samsung (likely) - Korea
  21. Audio codec design - Cirrus - US

So US companies are still doing the bulk of the component design work.
 
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A

apolloa

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bertman said:
My first digital camera in 1998 was an Apple 100 (I think that's what it was called) which was a re-branded Fujifilm - It produced 640x480 pixel crappy JPEGS - some of my favorite images from rock climbing trips that year with friends.

I don't think I've loaded more than a a few rolls of film since then.

Apple IS in the camera industry, as far as iPhone imaging goes. But, no, they will not be producing iCameras anytime soon. Unless they take some of their $100-ish B and buy out a camera division of some company...
Click to expand...

Exactly, like what the hell does Apple know about the camera industry these day's? It has no knowledge of digital SLR's plus HUGE competition and if it makes compacts then it's threatening the iPhones camera!
 
S

Slappi

macrumors member
Jan 31, 2010
71
6
Personally I dislike Sony anything but whatever. I am also wondering how much of a difference there is between the two sensors if indeed Omnivision is even in the iPhone 4s at all.
 
SchneiderMan

SchneiderMan

macrumors G3
May 25, 2008
8,332
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Ugh Sony doesn't know how to make good cameras and video. They should have partnered with Canon.
 
C

cvaldes

macrumors 68040
Dec 14, 2006
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somewhere else
apolloa said:
hmmmm, is this a safe thing for Apple to do? Using two different sensors on the same product could yield very different results.
Personally I do wish APple use some brains and stick with Sony. They have a great reputation with mobile phone cameras.
Click to expand...

Slappi said:
Personally I dislike Sony anything but whatever. I am also wondering how much of a difference there is between the two sensors if indeed Omnivision is even in the iPhone 4s at all.
Click to expand...
My guess is that Apple has very stringent specifications and that differences between the parts from the two manufacturers are negligible.

Note that Apple isn't the first high tech company in history to source parts from multiple suppliers. It's pretty commonly done.

If one supplier isn't able to perform up to the task, they are dropped.
 
A

apolloa

Suspended
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SchneiderMan said:
Ugh Sony doesn't know how to make good cameras and video. They should have partnered with Canon.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's right mate, because Canon have a long reputable history with mobile phone peanut sized sensors eh? :rolleyes::rolleyes: Sony haven't a clue what they are doing.......

Just how sad and pathetic have you got be to hate a company that makes a component of an Apple device? Perhaps Apple just shouldn't bother and make you happy or use a lower quality camera that can't match the other smartphones on the market.
 
Xian Zhu Xuande

Xian Zhu Xuande

macrumors 6502a
Jul 30, 2008
941
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carmenodie said:
This is sick. Who does his type of investigative work on an effing phone? Man!
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emulator said:
No, this is informative. Standing in lines for hours to get an electronic device is sick.
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Ease up, guys. You're probably coming across as jerks to some of the people who are interested in this. There's nothing sick about being curious and passionate about something which is relatively unimportant. I assume the two of you have indulged a television drama for fun, watched an action flick for kicks, or entertained some kind of hobby which is not directly educational in your lives, whether reading fantasy novels or collecting coins, stamps, cards?

It is nice to enjoy some pastimes which aren't technically valuable in some measurable way, and there's nothing wrong with that at all. Besides, I'd rather be outside standing in line for an interesting new product, interacting with some new people and breathing some fresh air, than complaining on an internet forum about people who have no impact on my life.

portishead said:
You have no clue.
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[SNIP] Someone said it better. Sony's good for the job.
 
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