Apple Looking to Save Space in Future iPhones With Thinner Circuit Boards

Apple will begin using a new material to make its printed circuit boards thinner starting next year, according to a source with a good track record.

Apple Silicon Teal Feature
Apple will reportedly switch to using resin coated copper (RCC) foil as a new printed circuit board (PCB) material in 2024. The change will apparently allow Apple to make its PCBs even thinner. Current iPhone PCBs are made from a flexible copper substrate material. A thinner PCB could free up valuable space inside compact devices like the ‌iPhone‌ and Apple Watch to provide more room for larger batteries or other components.

The iPhone 16 Pro models are expected to grow in size from 6.1- and 6.7-inches to 6.3- and 6.9-inches, respectively. The increase in size is believed to be partly due to a need for more internal space for additional components such as a tetraprism telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom and a capacitive "Capture" button.

The information comes from an integrated circuit expert on Weibo, who was first to report that the iPhone 14 would retain the A15 Bionic chip, with the A16 being exclusive to the ‌‌iPhone 14‌‌ Pro models. Most recently, the user said that the A17 chip designed for the iPhone 16 and ‌‌iPhone 16‌‌ Plus will be made using a fundamentally different manufacturing process to the A17 Pro in the iPhone 15 Pro to cut costs.

Popular Stories

best buy holiday

Best Buy Reveals Black Friday Plans With Sitewide Sales Available Now

Friday November 8, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Black Friday sales are continuing today with Best Buy kicking off early Black Friday deals that will last for the next few days. Similar to other retailers, Best Buy's early Black Friday event includes sitewide savings on Apple products, headphones, TVs, monitors, video games, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may...
mac mini thermal architecture feature

New Mac Mini Has Modular Storage, 256GB Model Will Have Faster SSD

Friday November 8, 2024 7:06 am PST by
Apple has returned to using two 128GB storage chips in the new Mac mini with 256GB of storage, according to a partial teardown video shared on social media today. This means the base-model Mac mini with the M4 chip will not have significantly slower SSD speeds compared to higher-end configurations of the computer with 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB of storage, as multiple NAND chips allows for faster SSD...
iphone passcode green

Cops Suspect iOS 18 iPhones Are Communicating to Force Reboots, Making Unlocking Harder

Thursday November 7, 2024 2:20 pm PST by
Law enforcement officials in Detroit, Michigan are warning other police officers about an alleged iPhone change that causes Apple devices stored for forensic examination to spontaneously restart, reports 404 Media. iPhones that are undergoing examination have apparently been rebooting, which makes them harder to unlock with brute force methods, and Michigan police think that it's due to a...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.2 Beta 2

Monday November 4, 2024 12:34 pm PST by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2 updates to developers, and Apple is continuing to refine the Apple Intelligence capabilities. There are also a handful of smaller features that are worth knowing about. Find My Find My has a new option to Share Item Location with an "airline or trusted person" that can help you locate something that you've misplaced....
maxresdefault

Hands On With Apple's New M4 Mac Mini

Friday November 8, 2024 12:21 pm PST by
Apple launched the new Mac mini, iMac, and MacBook Pro models with M4 chips today, and because the Mac mini is the only one of the machines that got a design update, we thought we'd check it out to see how it compares to the prior version. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The 2024 version of the Mac mini is much smaller than the previous M2 model, so it takes up...
High Power Mode Feature 2

Apple Expands High Power Mode to MacBook Pro and Mac Mini Models With M4 Pro Chip

Thursday November 7, 2024 12:15 pm PST by
High Power Mode is available on the 14-inch MacBook Pro, 16-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini models with the M4 Pro chip, according to Ars Technica's Andrew Cunningham. The feature was previously limited to Macs with Apple's highest-end "Max" chip, so this is the first time it is available on Macs with a "Pro" chip. This is the second time that Apple has expanded availability of High Power...
next generation carplay multi display

Here's the Latest on Next-Generation CarPlay After 2.5 Years of Waiting

Wednesday November 6, 2024 8:33 am PST by
It has been nearly two and a half years since Apple first previewed next-generation CarPlay at WWDC 2022, and it has still yet to become available in any vehicles. Below, we recap the latest information about next-generation CarPlay. Launch Timing Apple's website continues to say that the first vehicles with next-generation CarPlay support will "arrive in 2024," but it has yet to provide ...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero

Skipping the New MacBook Pro? Here Are the Rumors About M5 Models

Friday November 8, 2024 9:35 am PST by
The new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips launched in stores today. If you are not planning to upgrade this year, be aware that there are already rumors about next year's MacBook Pro models with M5 series chips. It appears the MacBook Pro will remain on an annual upgrade cycle next year. Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today said camera module...

Top Rated Comments

a_politis Avatar
15 months ago
For those who want new iPad mini, I suggest to wait a few more years. The next generations iPhone pro max is just 1-2 inches away.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Love-hate ? relationship Avatar
15 months ago
well hopefully it'll allow them to make their anemic batteries grow a bit
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DominikHoffmann Avatar
15 months ago
I don’t want a larger phone than my iPhone 15 Pro.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tyr2 Avatar
15 months ago
If the regular Pro grows to 6.3 inches, that clearly leaves plenty of space for a Pro Mini to fit into the lineup!
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Aluminum213 Avatar
15 months ago
I hope they increase the price also ???
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
840quadra Avatar
15 months ago
Hoping this also means they can make smaller pro phones with full features.

I get the camera modules are in shorter supply, however we took a huge step back by splitting camera specifications on pro phones and only having it in the Max.

One HUGE reason I buy pro models on the iOS side is because ( unlike Android phones ) I could ( in the past ) get the best cameras in the smaller devices too.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)