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Apple Uses Tiny QR Codes to Track Display Manufacturing Failures and Cut Costs
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Additionally, since the article also clearly states that by spending these *millions* Apple saved *hundreds of millions*, obviously, it wasn’t an “expense”… it was an *investment*!
Chinese manufacturers doing extra production runs and charging them to the buyer as failed units, then reselling them on the secondary market? No way!
Where's iFixIt?
Where's iFixIt?
The worst feeling is one pays a huge sum of money he saved to pay for something he dearly wants only to open it and find a defected product.
I thought I was the only who remembers this. "FLAT" tv prices were outrageous(and at the time felt like something from a SciFi movie) . One would think the heavy and complicated mechanical CRT would be more expensive over a flat piece of electronic board but that is not the case.
Lets not forget the improvements in every way to the picture. Early LCD displays had a different colour to them at any angle you moved your head 😂
I thought I was the only who remembers this. "FLAT" tv prices were outrageous(and at the time felt like something from a SciFi movie) . One would think the heavy and complicated mechanical CRT would be more expensive over a flat piece of electronic board but that is not the case.
Lets not forget the improvements in every way to the picture. Early LCD displays had a different colour to them at any angle you moved your head 😂
I remember flat TVs being such a big deal in the late 90s even when only rich nations had 720p or 1080i broadcasts
We bought our first 720p LCD TV in 2006. 3 years after the 1st HDMI device was released.
You can only use its 720p feature with a PC until you bought a 2K blu-ray players launched later that year.
Smart money would be to wait for the 1st price cut of the PS3 & Xbox 360 with a 2K blu-ray drive in early 2008 and buy a 1080p LCD TV.
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You might be joking, but I am pretty sure the ifixit people are seething about this sort of thing, because it certainly isn’t in their business interest. Their continuing outrage over component locks is tied to the fact that they serve the seedy underground of stolen phones and breakers who sell parts from that market.
Thanks this was really helpful - seen those things but had no idea...It's probably a Data Matrix code, not a QR code.
Data Matrix - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
"The most popular application for Data Matrix is marking small items, due to the code's ability to encode fifty characters in a symbol that is readable at 2 or 3 mm2 (0.003 or 0.005 sq in) and the fact that the code can be read with only a 20% contrast ratio.[1] A Data Matrix is scalable; commercial applications exist with images as small as 300 micrometres (0.012 in) (laser etched on a 600-micrometre (0.024 in) silicon device) and as large as a 1 metre (3 ft) square (painted on the roof of a boxcar). Fidelity of the marking and reading systems are the only limitation. The US Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) recommends using Data Matrix for labeling small electronic components.[2]"
Great point.Actually, they spent nothing because the article indicates the QA improvement has already saved hundreds of millions for their initial millions outlay. There is this funny concept called return on investment, where this expense has already paid for itself and is effectively now paying Apple an extra 2 screens for every 10 produced at these factories. They went from 7 to 9, which means they basically increased the production by 29% with this move, meaning the ROI was quite impressive.
These are the kind of results no one can complain about. Oh, wait, never mind… I forgot I was on MacRumors.
This process has been very standard in the manufacturing business for decades, its just that most customers just don't know it. Look closely at most parts and you'll see manufacturing codes, lot numbers, and serial numbers on an awful lot of them. Crack open an old TV and you'll find lot and serial numbers on the tube, on the flyback, transformer, etc.
Such tracking helps to identify the root cause of manufacturing and engineering issues during QA and after delivery into the field. It helps keep quality high and part manufacturers on track. The only thing new here is that the printing is very small.
Normal quality circle practices between suppliers and manufacturers. But apple having to impose a secret system possibly suggests lack of trust? Usually good suppliers provide that data and you actively work together to improve stuff without having to collect your own data
Does it say somewhere that this is a secret process in the original article? It is behind a paywall, so I have not read it, but from the data available here, I would expect the reason for the rather complicated process with a microscopic rather than a regular barcode is simply because this is glass, and there is a consumer expectation that glass should be transparent, not obscured by barcodes.
Yet the ultra heartrate complication has been bugged since watchos 10 beta and despite a fix identified they still havent pushed it out during the entire beta testing time, this company is a disgrace, its a parasite, charging top dollar for products that dont work. Tim Cook is the best thing that ever happened for investors, and the worst thing that ever happened for customers.