How Every Piece of an iPhone Works

WIRED

20-02-2025

[Narrator] Every piece of an iPhone.
The average person checks their phone
over a hundred times a day.
At this point, your phone is basically an extension
of your brain.
You know what they can do.
They run generative AI in real time.
They take professional grade photographs
and let you FaceTime your friend
from the other side of the planet.
They're also totally inescapable and completely addictive,
but have you thought about what exactly is inside?
The answer is fascinating.
Each and every piece is the culmination of
millions of hours of research,
testing, development, and manufacturing,
all coming together to truly revolutionize the way we live.
So let's break it down.
This is Every Piece of an iPhone.
[upbeat music]
It starts with the frame and the iPhone 16 Pro
uses grade five titanium, which makes it lighter
and stronger than aluminum.
The iPhone 16 and 16 Plus
still have the aluminum alloy frame.
Surrounding the screen is the bezel,
a precision engineered piece
that seamlessly integrates the screen
to the frame of the phone.
These bezels keep getting smaller,
and that's especially true on the iPhone 16 Pro.
There are five antenna lines around the iPhone
and these lines help the device connect
to millimeter wave 5G for the fastest speeds yet,
at least where available.
There are now five physical buttons on the iPhone 16 series,
the volume rocker, the action button, the power button,
and the camera control button, which is the newest edition.
This button lets you jump straight into the camera
and you can slide your finger on it
to switch camera modes, press and hold it
and you'll activate Apple's new visual intelligence feature
within Apple Intelligence that uses the iPhone camera
and Siri to identify what you're looking at.
Most of these features have popped up
in various Android phones before,
but Apple is happy to ignore that fact.
The screen,
the 6.9 inch Super Retina XDR OLED display
was developed in South Korea
and is likely sourced from Samsung or LG,
with factories in South Korea, Vietnam, China,
and more under construction in India.
Most smartphones use Corning's Gorilla Glass Technology
to protect the display,
but Apple and Corning have a proprietary material
called Ceramic Shield,
which embeds ceramic nano crystals into the glass
to make it more shatter resistant,
manufactured in several countries,
including the U.S. and China.
The iPhone 16 Pro range features Apple's
Pro Motion technology,
which adjusts the number of times
an image shows up on the display
up to 120 times per second.
Though it can vary this number if the screen is static
to save battery life.
This is in line with most other phones as well,
like those from Google, Samsung, and Xiaomi.
The screens can also get significantly brighter
compared to phones from five years ago,
hitting a thousand nits max
though when you're watching HDR content
that can ratchet up to 1600 nits
and even 2000 knits when you're outdoors on a sunny day.
For comparison, Google claims its Pixel 9 Pro
goes up to 3000 nits in certain conditions.
On the opposite end, the iPhone can go
all the way down to one nit
for when you're scrolling in bed at night.
[mellow music]
The proximity sensor likely manufactured
by Trumpf in Germany
detects how close your face is to the device.
A ribbon cable integrates the front ambient light sensor
and helps optimize display brightness in any condition.
For thermal management,
the aluminum inner frame works in tandem
with a heat dissipation film
to keep temperatures under control.
According to an Apple environmental progress report,
the iPhone 16 uses 85% recycled aluminum.
These materials come from places like China,
the global leader in aluminum production.
Inside the front assembly,
there's a black plastic bracket
that not only secures the front facing camera,
but also provides cushioning foam to prevent dust intrusion.
Even the smallest details like a foam strip
aligned with the telephoto Periscope camera
play a role in shock absorption.
The back cover,
the glass back cover integrates seamlessly
with the magnetic MagSafe wireless charging coil.
Apple introduced this MagSafe technology in the iPhone 12,
and it lets you magnetically attach accessories
to the back of the device.
From wireless chargers to magnetic bike mounts,
it charges at 25 watts wirelessly,
but wired charging through USBC will always be faster.
Beneath the glass lies a metal reinforcement plate,
which protects the delicate internal components.
The rear cameras,
a sapphire crystal lens cover
protects the three rear cameras
and the Sony sensor sourced from Japan
and boasts ultra high hardness for scratch resistance.
Though it's worth noting,
this is a synthetic material used in manufacturing
like for watches and not the blue gemstone
you might be thinking of.
Surrounding the lenses are foam rings
that prevent dust intrusion
and conductive foam pads for electrostatic protection.
The three rear cameras feature anti-reflective coatings
for clearer images and seven lens elements,
layers of glass stacked to improve overall image clarity.
This is also where you'll find the LIDAR sensor,
which is still only exclusive to the iPhone Pro models.
This sensor helps improve depth information
for portrait mode images
and is also used in augmented reality applications
to map your surroundings.
These specs put the iPhone neck and neck
with the flagship models from usual competitors
like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and the Google Pixel Pro.
Though the iPhone remains the only one
with the LIDAR sensor.
The battery,
the L-shaped battery encased in metal
is a single cell stack design now lasting
13 more hours of video playback
than the iPhone 12 from five years ago
according to Apple.
Manufactured in China,
it incorporates lithium and cobalt mined from countries like
the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chile
sparking important conversations about ethical sourcing.
Apple claims these batteries
are made with a 100% recycled cobalt
and that every Apple designed battery starting this year
will be the same.
One of the coolest innovations of late
is the battery currently only available
in the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus models,
which we have here,
instead of being fixed to the phone with adhesive
and having to be annoyingly
pried off the phone to be replaced,
with this battery, you just apply 12 volts and voila,
that makes it much easier to replace.
[mellow music]
The sound system.
The microphone is at the bottom
and Apple says the Pro models
have better mics than the standard iPhone 16.
The top and bottom speakers are located here and here,
and starting with the iPhone 13 series,
Apple started including a top speaker
instead of using the receiver.
The Taptic Engine powered by a linear motor
delivers tactile feedback that simulates physical clicks
and vibrations.
The front camera,
the front camera and face ID module
are significantly smaller than in years past.
It all began with the notch in the iPhone 10.
Then this notch got smaller in the iPhone 13,
and Apple finally introduced the Dynamic Island
in the iPhone 14 Pro,
which suspends the true depth camera within the display
as if it's floating.
Many Android cameras have been floating for years,
but apps on the iPhone can now take advantage
of the Dynamic Island to show live information
such as Google Maps or Uber when you're navigating
or are in the middle of a ride,
and one tap can take you right back to the app.
The motherboard.
At the heart of the iPhone lies the motherboard,
really a marvel of miniaturization and power.
The A18 Pro is a system on a chip on the main logic board
designed by Apple and manufactured by TSMC in Taiwan.
It powers this device with a six core CPU,
a six core GPU and a 16 core neural engine,
which handles most of the artificial intelligence
and machine learning processes
now dubbed Apple Intelligence.
All the new iPhones now come with eight gigabytes
of LPDDR5X ram,
a big change from prior models that only had six gigs.
This is what enables the iPhone
to handle the intensive processing required
for Apple Intelligence.
And while we're on the topic of intelligence,
apple was recently forced to support RCS chat.
So Apple and Android users can finally share
modern text conversations
with typing indicators and emoji reactions.
Apple uses a Qualcomm modem,
and this is the first iPhone to support
the latest Wi-Fi 7 standard.
Though you'll need a Wi-Fi 7 router
to actually make use of those faster internet speeds.
The NAND flash storage on the Pro Max
starts at 256 gigabytes and goes up to one terabyte,
and it's typically sourced from Kioxia in Japan.
Meanwhile, the ultra wideband chip enables
precise tracking for things such as Air Tags.
Charging.
The iPhone 16 PRO has a USBC port
capable of 10 gigabits per second data transfer speeds
secured with JCIS Philip screws.
In comparison, the lightning
cable was capable of 480 megabits per second speeds,
so it's 20 times faster now.
The iPhone was finally forced to switch
from the lightning cable to USPC
starting with the iPhone 15 series,
and this is a win for consumers
because now you can use the same cable as your MacBook
or iPad to charge.
And as Android users are learning,
now iPhone owners will be asking them
to borrow their chargers.
You can even reverse charge the AirPods case
with the USBC cable.
And there you have it.
This is what makes an iPhone,
a device that's not just an object,
but a symbol of human creativity,
collaboration, and complexity.
So the next time you check your phone
one of a hundred times today,
take a moment to appreciate the astounding journey
that brought it to your hands.
[mellow music]