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

Friday October 14, 2011 12:44 pm PDT by Eric Slivka

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.
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.

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GabrielF
101 months ago
So for those keeping track:
[LIST=1]
* CPU Design - Apple A5 - US
* CPU Manufacturing - Samsung - Korea
* Battery assembly - Foxconn? - China
* RF Transceiver - Qualcomm - US
* Power Amplifier - Skyworks - US
* Power Amplifier - Avago - US
* SAW Filter - TriQuint - US
* PA Duplexer - TriQuint - US
* Power amplifier - Avago - US
* WiFi/Bluetooth Design - Broadcom - US
* WiFi/Bluetooth Manufacturing - Murata - Japan
* Flash memory - Toshiba - Japan
* RAM - Samsung - Korea OR
* RAM - Elpida - Japan
* Accelerometer - STMicroelectronics - Switzerland
* Gyroscope - STMicroelectronics - Switzerland
* Power management - Dialog - Germany
* Camera - Sony - Japan
* Touch sensor - Texas Instruments - US
* Vibrate motor - Samsung (likely) - Korea
* Audio codec design - Cirrus - US


So US companies are still doing the bulk of the component design work.
Rating: 11 Votes
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bertman
101 months ago

This is an interesting turnout.


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

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! :)


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...
Rating: 5 Votes
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portishead
101 months ago

Ugh Sony doesn't know how to make good cameras and video. They should have partnered with Canon.


You have no clue.
Rating: 3 Votes
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portishead
101 months ago
Not surprised. Sony is making some amazing sensors. See: A77 & NEX-7
Rating: 3 Votes
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JAT
101 months ago

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! :)

Sony has made (and most likely will going forward) most of the digital camera sensors in the world. In all kinds of cameras. In Sony, Apple, Canon, Nikon, everybody.
Rating: 3 Votes
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bertman
101 months ago

But note that it's using Apple's own lens and software.


Lens; No. It is a 5-element design which is coupled tightly to the sensor - I cannot believe the whole assembly is not made by Sony. As an optical designer, I would love to get the optical design and analyze the limits of the imaging performance, but I can tell you it has improved distortion, sharpness, and color correction over the 4.

Software; Yes.

----------

Ugh Sony doesn't know how to make good cameras and video.


- Milk shoots out nose -

Don't DO THAT while I'm eating my milk and cookies!!!

- Wipes tears of laughter from eyes, still cleaning out nostrils... -
Rating: 3 Votes
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mikefla
101 months ago
Thank god for the Sony optics they are long overdue on the iPhone, they make some of the best optics in the World.

-Mike
Rating: 3 Votes
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emulator
101 months ago



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

No, this is informative. Standing in lines for hours to get an electronic device is sick.
Rating: 2 Votes
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apolloa
101 months ago

Ugh Sony doesn't know how to make good cameras and video. They should have partnered with Canon.


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.
Rating: 2 Votes
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bertman
101 months ago

Apple needs to enter the camera industry.


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...
Rating: 2 Votes

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