Roger Fingas
Apple is expected to use a new "fan-out" packaging technology for some components to maximize the amount of room in its next-generation iPhone, a Korean report said on Thursday.
Specifically, the technology will be applied to the device's antenna switching module and RF (radio frequency) chip, ETNews suggested. Using fan-out should increase the density of I/O terminals within a package, permitting smaller chip sizes.
Shrinking the chassis of the "iPhone 7" is believed to be a high priority for Apple. On top of minimizing radio components, the company may also be increasing its use of single-chip EMI (electromagnetic interference) shielding, allowing components to sit more closely together.
Indeed, the device may even abandon a 3.5mm headphone jack in the interests of thinness and/or adding a second speaker port. If so, people will have to buy Bluetooth or Lightning accessories for external audio.
The "iPhone 7" and an "iPhone 7 Plus" are expected to ship sometime this fall, probably in September as usual. Features of one or both models could include a dual-lens camera and a more uniform back, without a camera bump or visible antenna bands.
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25 Comments
I do hope this translates into thinner bezels than a thinner device.
Just don't make the phone thinner. Use any space-savings to fit in as much battery as possible. That along with a more efficient chip. Battery life is too important. We need as much as you can give us Apple. Meaning more than 6s. Not the same at thinner.
Ok, but nowhere to you note what the heck "fan-out" packaging technology actually is?
This just in: phone components are getting smaller over time.
This Apple-obsession with thinness is getting asinine.