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Kuo: iPhones Won't Adopt RCC for Thinner Circuit Boards Until 2025

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iPhones will not adopt resin coated copper (RCC) foil for their printed circuit boards until 2025, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Kuo says that Apple will not adopt this technology in 2024 because of its "fragile characteristics" and "inability to pass drop tests."

Apple-Silicon-Teal-Feature.jpg

If Apple and its supplier Ajinomoto can improve the RCC material before the third quarter of 2024, the high-end iPhone 17 models could use it. Resin coated copper does not sound exciting, but it has the potential to slim down the size of circuit boards, freeing up space inside of the iPhone that can be used for larger batteries or other technology. Kuo says that it also makes the drilling process easier for iPhone manufacturing because RCC is fiberglass-free.

Late last month, a Weibo circuit expert claimed that Apple would adopt RCC for circuit boards starting in 2024, but it appears that we might not see the shift until 2025.

Article Link: Kuo: iPhones Won't Adopt RCC for Thinner Circuit Boards Until 2025
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/10/12/rcc-thinner-circuit-boards-2025/
It will come, sooner or later … and hopefully Apple will not market it as a “feature”…
 
reallynotnick said:
The battery and circuit board don't overlap in an iPhone, making the circuit board thinner won't provide space for more battery.
Click to expand...
Except if the circuit board overlaps itself, there is less real estate used by the circuit board and more for the battery.

Take a 1-story house, divide it into two, and put one half on top of the other. You can now have a bigger pool on the same lot.
 
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t0rqx said:
It would be a great way to up that service cost revenue.
Click to expand...
This is hardware, and it’s apparently not an “expense” thing that you can just throw money at, it’s a “our circuit boards break when you drop the phone” thing. So more engineering work needs to be done (which does involve money, sure, but more than just that).
 
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“Apple will not adopt this technology in 2024 because of its […] "inability to pass drop tests."”
🤣

Well, it’s not like current iPhones pass YouTubers’ drop tests.
 
Maybe it's time for MCPCBs (aluminum ones). Slightly more expensive, althought not that much in masse and even less in Apple's scales, better thermal dissipation and better mechanical propertes (so no need for a whole internal Aluminum chasis like 15 Pro, maybe just a cutdown to cover the rest?) and no more e-waste as it's 95% recyclable unlike FR4. The only real downside is weight, but that's already added by the alu chasis right now. Apple prides themselves of being ecofriendly, yet still using FR4 that ends up in 3rd world countries to be manually disassembled contaminating everything, just do a quick "e-waste" in Google.
 
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Anything that can possibly lead to larger batteries is good with me. Still hoping for a big breakthrough in battery technology that will provide faster charging, and larger capacity at the same size.
 
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MacRumors said:
...but it has the potential to slim down the size of circuit boards, freeing up space inside of the iPhone that can be used for larger batteries
Click to expand...
Never once has Apple slimmed down other components to make way for larger batteries...They'll just end up making the phone even thinner, again.
 
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StudioMacs said:
Except if the circuit board overlaps itself, there is less real estate used by the circuit board and more for the battery.

Take a 1-story house, divide it into two, and put one half on top of the other. You can now have a bigger pool on the same lot.
Click to expand...
They already do that since the iPhone X actually. It’s quite fascinating
 
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Why do I get the feeling that future iPhones (15 Pro included) are getting worse regarding quality and reliability. Look at the hasty switch to titanium on the 15 Pro and the crappy FineWoven case. Glad I cancelled my 15 Pro, still VERY happy with my 14 Pro. Besides the weight, it’s a stellar and impressive piece of technological engineering feat.
 
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Apple Care will have a clause regarding shattered printed circuit boards...

Sorry, this phone was dropped... your Apple Care + plan is no longer valid... you should have bought the Apple Care Pro Max plan that covers shattered printed circuit boards, overheating CPU and tainted titanium casings (no Apple Care plan covers fine woven 'artefacts').
 
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iPhone 17 sounds like an experiment to avoid. I feel like there is desperate scramble inside Apple to find some kind of meaningful quality of life improvements every year. There really is only so much you can do with a rectangle.
 
What sort of reduction in thickness will this likely achieve? We’re talking microns, surely. And even if all that saving was made available to battery the additional volume added is going to be minimal. Would it really make a significant difference to battery endurance? Seems like a very small gain set against a very new and possibly risky technology.
 
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