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Apple A4 Teardown

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  • Before dismantling it, Chipworks took an X-ray image of the A4 processor to get a feel for how things are laid out inside.

  • If you look closely, you can see hundreds of thread-like interconnects (wirebonds) that carry electronic signals between dies.

  • The A4 has three layers: Two layers of RAM (Samsung K4X1G323PE), and one layer containing the actual microprocessor.

  • This Package-on-Package construction gives Apple the flexibility to source the RAM from any manufacturer they want—they're not locked into Samsung.

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