How does Apple put the RC on millions of new, unreleased devices in less than two weeks prior to them shipping? Things that make you go Hmmmmm......
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How does Apple put the RC on millions of devices before shipping?
- Thread starter mookc1
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What is released to the public is likely a few weeks behind of what's in the pipeline at Apple.
I've always wondered about the too. When do they flash them and with which build? besides this, I'm fascinated by the logistics behind it all. I'd love to see a documentary but I highly doubt that would happen.
I had this exact thought whilst laying in bed the other night.
I’m so glad you saw the funny side and that there was no ill intent. It was just too good to pass up. 😂
The build we receive is not the build they load into those new iPhones for sure. Because of the size of the OS, I’d imagine merging every change into the master branch would take a little while, logistic wise, not compiling time. You will find some iPhone having software versions like 14.1 or even 14.0.1 if you are lucky when the public release is jumping to 14.3. Same deal.
I'm guessing that's why they ship straight from China. So, they can have an army of people update and package them for shipping at the last minute.
Yea I know! It’s all good fun! I do have a sense of humor. And it fit perfectly to the post 😂
Does anyone know how this actually works? In my imagination they just connect it to a Mac and install the newest OS with Apple Configurator 2, but is this really how it works? I imagine this is a lot of work if you have millions of iPhones to install it on…
In my guess, the flash the memory before it’s installed. I dunno.
Yeah there's probably never a time when they've got these devices on iOS 14.
They probably begin hardware manufacture, then have a stack of unflashed new iPhones, then when an RC is ready they start flashing every single one of them and boxing.
OR there's also the chance that like Jumpie said they flash the memory chips before installation.
Although connecting those chips is an arduous task, they need to be micro soldered, they don't just plug into a test bench.
So yeah I'd bet that they only flash once the iPhone is assembled.
They probably begin hardware manufacture, then have a stack of unflashed new iPhones, then when an RC is ready they start flashing every single one of them and boxing.
OR there's also the chance that like Jumpie said they flash the memory chips before installation.
Although connecting those chips is an arduous task, they need to be micro soldered, they don't just plug into a test bench.
So yeah I'd bet that they only flash once the iPhone is assembled.
yeah I think they do a hardware test then flash them just before they get packaged. They just put the latest available version on the phones. As part of the initial setup process the phone will do a (sometimes forced) update. Perhaps as part of the activation they check if they need to force an update.
My guess is the last thing they do for quality control is a charging cycle and firmware update. A long long line of new iPhones on a big big wire harness jig. It would be Neet to see!
Again - just guessing. Jigs are cool.
If I can find the article, I’ll post it, but I remember reading that the phones are boxed up in some quasi-limbo state waiting for commands, and they flash the entire lot via wifi all at once, inside the boxes.
It’s custom software that doesn’t exist outside of the factory and it’s gone when their flashed.
It’s custom software that doesn’t exist outside of the factory and it’s gone when their flashed.
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Really? I'd be surprised. What if something goes wrong? Hard to verify that the device flashed ok.
exactly my thought. If that was the case, we will have heard about iPhone arriving with no firmware installed. Never heard of something like that
But we have had phones with test photos on them of factory workers. So in the past at least they had loaded the software on before manual testing.
It does seem potentially problematic, but I definitely remember the same story. I just can't find it at the moment.
That's what I think, but the guy I work with says no way......I think yes.
There would probably be a check in ping once the process is done. If the phone didn’t ping, it’d be removed from the lot