iPhone 4 teardown - 512MB RAM confirmed, Corning Gorilla Glass as well?

By Rene Ritchie
last updated

As expected, the moment Apple's new iPhone 4 hit the streets, iFixit nabbed it, took it back to the lab, and proceeded with an iPhone 4 teardown. Especially exciting:

We have confirmed that the iPhone's A4 processor has 512 MB RAM, unlike the iPad's more limited 256 MB. This decision may have been made fairly late in Apple's development cycle, because early leaked prototype phones only had 256 MB.

UPDATE: Looks like the Retina Display may indeed be protected by Gorilla Glass!

The front glass panel of the iPhone is constructed of Corning Gorilla Glass, a chemically strengthened alkali-aluminosilicate thin sheet glass that is reported to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic.Gorilla Glass holds many advantages as the iPhone 4's front panel including its high resistance to wear and increased strength from a strengthening process.

The teardown is still underway and we'll update when they're done, but in the meantime you can catch the action via the link below.

[iFixit]

Rene Ritchie
Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.

18 Comments
  • fake
  • fake and gay
  • FAKE! you can tell its photoshopped!
  • 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor (same as the Samsung Wave S8500)
  • Triquint TQM610329? Uh, that's a CDMA2000 amplifier.
    Same for the TQM 13029.
    What is going on here? Are we staring more Verizon rumors in the face now?
  • Nevermind, iFixit has taken those numbers down. They could have been listed by mistake.
  • lol you guys suck so hard :D
  • This stupid upgrade is baseless. Soo many weird things happening on my 3GS. :(
    I have connection problems. Especially wifi..
    I can't access app store or iTunes.. It takes ages to open them both. :(
    Multi-tasking sucks.. It's not actually what we have been waiting for :(
    I hope they wil update wth 4.1 soon...
    I think even the volume level has decreased..
    Soooo many tweaks wth few good things :(
  • CDMA chip. This phone is Verizon capable.
  • Increased strength from a strengthening process? You don't say!
  • I highly doubt that Apple used Corning's Gorilla Glass for the iPhone 4. We've seen pictures of broken iPhone 4 screens that broke after three drops. Gorilla Glass is stronger than that, I've accidentally dropped my Droid (which has Gorilla Glass) a few times, while standing, and it fell on the screen and I'm 5' 11." My friend has dropped his Droid, several times on concrete, and the screen is still in perfect condition.
    Unless Apple made a last second switch, I doubt that it's Gorilla Glass.
  • pics or it didnt happen
  • The TriQuint part listing was wrong earlier. It is actually TQM676091, which is most likely something to do with WCDMA. WCDMA is NOT CDMA, it is another name for UMTS, which is GSM 3G so I doubt it is Verizon compatible.
    As for the glass they don't say how they have identified it as Corning Gorilla Glass. How did they identify it? Even if the glass is made by Corning it is not out of the realm of possibility that Apple had them whip up a special formula since they would be making such a large order.
  • The teardown looks good. I really like how easy it is to change the battery!!!
  • @TK: Correction, we have seen some broken glass of a supposed iPhone 4 shell from a website whose business is all about making phone repairs. Besides the fact they did not video the drop tests and we cannot confirm if they obtained the final production glass, neither their 3 drops nor your anecdotal evidence make for scientific study so no conclusions can be made from any of this.
    When it comes to glass, any glass can shatter and "stronger" is a loaded term. Glass is normally known for its hardness and thus its resistance to being scratched. However the harder a material the more brittle it is. With Gorilla Glass and other similar formulas they have incorporated some flexibility while retaining the scratchproof properties, but it still isn't completely shatterproof and I have yet to see a single video of drop tests for any device with Gorilla Glass.
    Besides which Apple already stated they're using an aluminosilicate glass, which is the basis of Gorilla Glass anyway. Also some iPhone 4 reviewers have already said they have dropped their review units with no ill effect.
  • Remember, iFixit reported a broken glass of an iPhone 4 after 3 falls but that iPhone 4 was a prototype, soo, it wasn't a Corning Gorrilla Glass iPhone 4, neighter a 512MB of RAM one. So, maybe the real iPhone's 4 really have Corning Gorrilla Glass.
  • TK is a good example of someone following internet propaganda
  • ttonqdwqmpbznefmsgxn, delo, GpiFPhd.