iPhone7 joins FPGA chip for the first time
According to The Motley Fool website quoting Chipworks' disassembly report for Apple's iPhone 7 and iPhone 7, the new iPhone has a built-in FPGA field programmable gate array chip that has never appeared in Apple phones in the past.
As the name implies, FPGA can be reprogrammed according to the desired application or function after the chip is manufactured. The biggest difference between FPGA and special application integrated circuit (ASIC) is that the latter is customized for specific design tasks. Cannot be changed after manufacturing.
According to the Chipworks report, this FPGA chip is supplied by LatTIce Semiconductor. The chip model is ICESLP4K, which is a member of the company's iCE40 Ultra family. It is designed for low power consumption and can be used to manage smartphones, tablets, and handheld devices with low power consumption requirements. Sensors in the device.
Due to the programmable nature of FPGAs, it is difficult to determine the main purpose of Apple’s use of this chip. As for breaking into the Apple supply chain, LatTIce's revenue is obviously of great help. When the company released its financial report in August, it said that because the product was accepted by first-line customers, revenue in the second quarter increased significantly, and it expects to achieve double-digit growth in the second quarter.
This confidence obviously comes from being an iPhone 7 supplier. Since the previous generation iPhone 6 did not use LatTIce's FPGA chip, LatTIce's performance will only get better and better. However, if Lattice cannot obtain orders for a new generation of iPhones, although it will still be able to inject revenue with the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, which will become mid-priced phones, the annual growth rate may not be too good-looking.
Samsung Electronics used the Lattice FPGA chip in the Galaxy S5, but it was canceled in the Galaxy S7 Edge, so Apple’s FPGA design this time may also be a stopgap measure until the company has the ability to build performance When the chip is stronger, the FPGA will be canceled.
On the bright side, if Lattice is favored by Apple again and successfully breaks into the iPhone 8 supply chain, the company's revenue is expected to grow substantially, because this means that Lattice will be able to obtain both high- and mid-priced mobile phones from Apple.