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Early Looks Inside Apple Watch's S1 Chip Confirm 512 MB RAM, Unexpected Suppliers

I originally believed the S1 would be easily swappable at an Apple Store, in order to give people confidence that their watch ivestment will be good for 5-10 years. The iFixit tear down showed that wasn't the case. However, now I see that Apple put enough future proofing in the S1 to pretty much eliminate the need to swap. You can only do so much on a watch, and this chip seems ready for the long haul, with plenty of headroom for future software upgrades and new capabilities.
 
I'm trying to do some research on the Broadcom chip. It says it includes/supports FM, but I can't verify what frequencies.

Any bets on whether we'll get FM Radio functionality? (If it has an FM antenna, of course.)
 
martygras9 said:
We're quickly moving to where your phone will be the hub for everything. It'll be the only device you need, connecting wirelessly to a monitor and keyboard to act as a desktop computer.

Very exciting times!
Click to expand...

I think eventually the iPad will replace the need for laptops except maybe for pro users. I rarely use my mac book pro now. My iPad has become my go to when I need the Internet, if my phone isn't nearby.
 
martygras9 said:
We're quickly moving to where your phone will be the hub for everything. It'll be the only device you need, connecting wirelessly to a monitor and keyboard to act as a desktop computer.

Very exciting times!
Click to expand...

Yes definitely, we'll see an implant phone/cpu with an ocular overlay UUQXD^2 display powered by a methane gas fuel cell. :rolleyes:
 
Does this mean the CPU isn't upgradable?

512 MB of RAM is impressive, my 1st-gen iPad mini only has 512 MB and it's very annoying how it often has to reload websites if you have multiple tabs open, which I believe is due to insufficient RAM.
 
TheRealTVGuy said:
I'm trying to do some research on the Broadcom chip. It says it includes/supports FM, but I can't verify what frequencies.

Any bets on whether we'll get FM Radio functionality? (If it has an FM antenna, of course.)
Click to expand...


I wonder wouldn't wifi, bt, nfc and fm all use the same antenna..since it all comes from the same chip. Apple may enable it when the new music app debuts or when the apple 2 watch hits.

It would be like having a Walkman all over again but in a watch form
 
segfaultdotorg said:
Does this mean the CPU isn't upgradable?

512 MB of RAM is impressive, my 1st-gen iPad mini only has 512 MB and it's very annoying how it often has to reload websites if you have multiple tabs open, which I believe is due to insufficient RAM.
Click to expand...

Uhh... yeah. Hate to break it to you, but the CPU isn't upgradable. I'm sure that's going to be a show-stopper for many consumers.

(perhaps I missed the sarcasm)
 
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itr81 said:
I wonder wouldn't wifi, bt, nfc and fm all use the same antenna..since it all comes from the same chip. Apple may enable it when the new music app debuts or when the apple 2 watch hits.

It would be like having a Walkman all over again but in a watch form
Click to expand...

You generally cannot share an antenna between radios that use different frequencies. The antennas are tuned to a particular frequency range.
 
gnasher729 said:
When used correctly, "b" means bit, "B" means byte. So 4Gb = four Gigabit = 4,000,000,000 bit = 500,000,000 Byte = about 500 Megabyte = 500 MB.
Click to expand...
Of course, computers deal with numbers that are powers of two, so one gigabit/byte would be 1024 megabits/bytes, not 1000. :) (Applicable for integrated circuits; not marketing numbers for things like mass storage devices. :p)

Why discrete chip memory capacity is often given in bits rather than bytes may be because sometimes memories have additional bits beyond just storage for things like parity, ECC and so on, where you would reserve 9 or 10 bits/byte, perhaps more depending on application.
 
Phil A. said:
It's an amazing bit of engineering, but IMO creating a tiny circuit board with normal components on it and then covering it in epoxy does not make it a single chip
Click to expand...

Okay, it's not a System on a Chip (SoC), how does System on a wafer sound (SoW)?

:D
 
redman042 said:
I originally believed the S1 would be easily swappable at an Apple Store, in order to give people confidence that their watch ivestment will be good for 5-10 years.
Click to expand...
That's been nothing but a pipe dream since the first person dreamt it up. To squeeze the amount of hardware in an apple watch down into that size of package requires far more precision (not to mention judicious use of adhesives) than your run of the mill "genius" bar employee is capable of.

Just getting into the casing requires special equipment, since there aren't any screw holes in the casing. From the moment we knew it would be a screwless design it meant it's basically not serviceable, at all.
 
Lennyvalentin said:
This guy is obviously wrong, as there are no cellular components visible on the PCB; no baseband modem, no radios or power amps, and so on. No antennas or even connectors for them either, not to mention the lack of a SIM card slot...

Anyway, why would there be these components in the watch if they're not going to be used? They're power hungry, expensive chips that take up significant real estate (look at an iPhone teardown for an example of how much room is needed); it wouldn't make sense to put them in there for no reason. It would just cost Apple money with no benefit for them or their customers.
Click to expand...

Maybe re-reading the quote would help. Nowhere in the quote is he saying what you think he is. Basically, all he said was the S1 has the look of a component with cellular connectivity. The look, as in similar.
 
Cuban Missles said:
Okay, it's not a System on a Chip (SoC), how does System on a wafer sound (SoW)?

:D
Click to expand...

It's more accurately a "System on Package". And the package is actually a high-end PCB in practice. So yeah, a tiny motherboard.

Given that many 'chips' are multiple dies anyway (stacked in various manners) it probably doesn't matter too much. However expect future watches to make more use of vertical die stacking via TSV to make the already-small PCB even smaller.
 
Lennyvalentin said:
That's been nothing but a pipe dream since the first person dreamt it up. To squeeze the amount of hardware in an apple watch down into that size of package requires far more precision (not to mention judicious use of adhesives) than your run of the mill "genius" bar employee is capable of.

Just getting into the casing requires special equipment, since there aren't any screw holes in the casing. From the moment we knew it would be a screwless design it meant it's basically not serviceable, at all.
Click to expand...

Apple said the battery is replaceable.
 
Lennyvalentin said:
Just getting into the casing requires special equipment, since there aren't any screw holes in the casing. From the moment we knew it would be a screwless design it meant it's basically not serviceable, at all.
Click to expand...

A good observation. Like all their other products, Apple will support this device for five years, then you're on your own. My guess is that the Edition will see actual service for internals, the other two will be handled via refurb exchanges.
 
Yayyyyyy! It has just a little less ram than my iphone:confused:
A side my sarcasm, the apple watch is a brilliant peace of technology.
I remember when the white MacBooks had 256mb of ram.

Once again props to apple!

Nice work. :apple:

:) ✌️#
 
ryansimmons323 said:
A 512mb computer on your wrist.

This was the thing of dreams not so long ago.
Click to expand...

Well, computer is pushing it.
More like a dumb terminal most at the moment, but I'm sure we all hope that as new models come out, it will become more and more it's own device, and not just an iPhone extension screen for most things.

I'm certainly looking forward to that happening.
 
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