garageband iphone

Yesterday we told you we would reveal the image sensor manufacturer in our iPhone 4S.  From the phone calls we have been receiving, this is something of extreme interest to the general community.  Well now is the time to learn who won the primary sensor socket in the specific iPhone 4S we have. We have a number of phones coming in from around the world, and will keep you updated with information as it comes out of the lab.
But before I do tell you, I want to put some context behind this.
Apple has a history of dual sourcing key components in their products. We have seen on a regular basis now Apple dual sources the DDR2 SDRAM between Samsung and Elpida. On these iPhone 4S’s we have observed Samsung DDR2 in a serial number from Germany and Elpida DDR2 in a serial number from Australia and Elpida in a serial number from Ontario.
Our understanding from our industry contacts over the last 6 to 8 months indicates that Apple will dual source the primary 8 Mp CMOS Image sensor. So, if we tell you that our CMOS image sensor comes from company XYZ, that does not mean that all iPhone 4S’s use company XYZ’s CMOS image sensor. It will take analyzing a sampling of phones from around the world to see if indeed Apple has dual sourced this camera.
So without further avail, here we go.
The external markings on the underside reveal nothing more than serial number and lot codes from the company who did final assembly of the camera module. Next we have a great side x-ray of the module where we can see the lens assembly that is delivering 1080P at 30 fps. This bares a lot of similarity to the prior generation iPhone 4 that had an OmniVision design win.

iPhone 4S camera module	iPhone 4S CMOS image sensor
iPhone 4S camera module X-ray	Previous generation iPhone 4 camera module X-ray

In order to get our readers the device manufacturer as soon as possible, rather than going through a fuming sulfuric acid chip deprocessing we chose to use our infrared microscope to look through the structure of this image sensor. What you see are the die markings on the base layer of the image sensor. The image isn’t beautiful, but it’s enough to tell us that Sony is in our particular iPhone 4S. (click image to enlarge)
update on Oct 26, 2011:
This original blog posting was on the week of October 16th and based on many of the phone calls we have been receiving regarding the primary camera design win, we took a look at a few more phones.  We have now seen 2 phones sourced in Canada from the retail and online Apple stores that have both had Sony die markings.  We looked at two more phones from other regions with the following results:
One of the cameras came from Australia and, according to date codes,  came off the assembly line at Foxconn in Calender week 42 (The week of Oct 10^th)
The other camera from the USA (Verizon phone) came off the assembly line at Foxconn in Calender week 41 (The week of Oct 3^th)
Now the other device we have been very curious about is the  touch screen controller. The touch screen controller on the previous generation iPhone 4 was Texas Instruments and, drum roll please, Texas Instruments has scored again. Apple has stuck with the Texas Instruments. The part number 343S0538 is fabricated by Texas Instruments for Apple. TI has adopted a wafer scale package in this version to save costs. The device was tested in August of 2011. Fresh from our shelves to you!.
While the layout of the die looks basically the same as the previous generation’s, the 343S0538 chip has new die markings. This device’s first set of die markings read: [TI logo]/ (M) / 2009TI / F761530, and a second set of die markings found read: NIMBUSAFE.