back to article OK, we admit it. Under the hood, the iPhone X is a feat of engineering

The iPhone X's face recognition may be experiencing teething problems but the thousand-quid handset is a masterpiece of engineering. Apple is the first to market with new, dense circuit board design called Stacked SLP, often referred to misleadingly as a "stacked logic board". Today's phones use 10 layers of copper on the PCB …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hell froze over

    The Register said something nice about Apple.

    1. msknight
      Trollface

      Re: Hell froze over

      ...or Apple did something that was worth saying nice things about for a change?

      EDIT - Got to admit, I wouldn't like to watch a film a'la notch.

      1. Frank Bitterlich
        Alien

        Re: Hell froze over

        Nope, probably somebody hacked his El Reg account.

        "And it comes with a beautiful notch."

        And not a hint of sarcasm anywhere. No way that Andrew Orlowski wrote that.

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. SuccessCase

      Re: Hell froze over

      It's Andrew Orlowski. As he has got to know Apple better, he's been coming over all Charles Arthur like.

      Understandable, the register has always underestimated Apple's engineering prowess and has never really understood the difference between design and assembly and the role of contractural intellectual property prohibitions.

      1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

        Re: Hell froze over

        It's Andrew Orlowski. As he has got to know Apple better…

        Long before Andrew was writing puff pieces for Windows Phone or the copyright industry he had latched onto the good things that Apple does and produces. His phone reviews, even the Windows Phone ones, are always worth reading. I think most of the team uses at least one Apple device and has done for years.

        Tim Yong Eun's beef with El Reg seems to be, that unless you always gush about Cupertino's toys, then you won't get an invitation to any of the shows.

        1. Guildencrantz
          Meh

          Re: "writing puff pieces for...the copyright industry"

          Don't you think there are substantive arguments for the existence of copyright in many media; and that it's possible AO writes what he actually thinks is true, and worth hearing, and for people whose intellectual property should be strongly defended because it's in all of our interests? Even if you disagree with those substantive points, do you think it's possible AO sincerely believes in them, passionately, even? I might not agree with you but I don't impugn your integrity. I think it's a failure of your imagination and that of those upvoting you that you don't impute integrity to others where it's deserved, perhaps in part because they disagree with you.

          Incidentally, copyright isn't just an industry, it's the legal concept of the property institution central to the operation of huge swathes of many countries' real economies. Remove it and you destroy the private benefit required for there to be private investment in invention.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hell froze over

      Nope, iFixit said it.

      However you wont have to wait for the torrent of problems. Already reports of really bad reception due to the design, and reports of battery issues. That's before you consider the FaceUnlock bodge.

      1. Lord Elpuss Silver badge

        Re: Hell froze over

        Aaaaaand that would be bullshit, bullshit and more bullshit. On a roll there, AC!

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Hell froze over

        The X is also VERY fragile, an accidental drop and it game over according to the first few YouTube video. My current phone cost 1/3 of the price and has been dropped 10+ times and still perfect, and it gets android updates every month...

        1. 404

          Re: Hell froze over

          Name That Phone!

          ...Android updates every month? Ain't no such thing...

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Hell froze over

            Of course there is, android gets updates every month. Google push patches for android every month with patches for all versions back to android 4...

            My phone gets them every month without fail as an OTA. Sorry it doesn't fit with what the internet told you.

            Of course the internet didn't also tell you that android version on your phone isn't as important as less flexible iOS.

            OS updates on Android are less relevant than on iOS since systems apps are updated independently of the operating system. First of all, you have to take into account that Android is exceptionally modular — leaps and bounds above iOS, in fact. This modularity arguably makes OS updates much less relevant on Android than they are on iOS since systems apps like the Play Store, Gmail, Maps, Calendar — and even ones like Google Play services or WebView — are all updated independently of the operating system. Not only does this mean that system apps can be updated regularly and independently of the OS, it means the version of OS is mostly irrelevant.

            1. 404

              Re: Hell froze over

              Hey Skippy, I have more than a few Android phones from different manufacturers over the years that got one or two updates over the course of the contracts.

              Currently on a Moto Z Force @7.1.1, which is pretty good on updates, three this year so far.

              Name the damn phone already!

              1. BebopWeBop

                Re: Hell froze over

                He won't!

          2. jgarbo

            Re: Hell froze over

            My Note 4 gets very frequent updates. Every 5-6 weeks. About 350MB

            1. Paul Chambers

              Re: Hell froze over

              I have a number of android phones running lineage OS. Weekly updates if i want Them.

        2. jgarbo

          Re: Hell froze over

          Why do you keep dropping your phone? Just asking. Do you drop other things or only phones?

          1. Hans 1
            Joke

            Re: Hell froze over

            A Professional basketball player, used to tossing balls at the floor, maybe ?

            A**** (my son) is this you, that probably explains the state of the last Android you had for 6 weeks (broken screen, three buttons ripped off ... in the course of ... 6 weeks, FFS!)

    4. J. R. Hartley

      Re: Hell froze over

      Bravo to the fruity Foxconn rebranders.

  2. Kevin Johnston

    yes, it's very nice but...

    at what point is this advancement for the sake of it?

    I know there are some devices where you can (or could) get a dock unit to use them as a PC but how much of this development work is for bragging rights. I see parallels with Formula 1 where there is a theoretical trickle down to road cars but it only seems to show on the >£1million supercars and for phones the advances are very niche since other applications of the tech would not be so space constrained.

    1. Halfmad
      Paris Hilton

      Re: yes, it's very nice but...

      Throughout history mankind has applied technology in unexpected ways, advancements don't always have an immediate and obvious application.

      Look at the guy who created suction pads or the chap who created the process for moulding shapes from synthetic rubber. Voila! the suction dildo.

      A masterpiece of engineering.

      1. Solarflare

        Re: yes, it's very nice but...

        Voila! the suction dildo.

        Must admit, wasn't expecting that one.

        1. graeme leggett Silver badge

          Re: yes, it's very nice but...

          "wasn't expecting that one."

          So much material, so little time...

        2. Alistair
          Joke

          Re: yes, it's very nice but...

          @Solarflare:

          No one expects.......

          Nope, thats not a soap on a rope....

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: yes, it's very nice but...

          >>Voila! the suction dildo.

          >Must admit, wasn't expecting that one.

          And I wasn't expecting such enthusiastic up-voting for it.

          Is this an IT Rag or Nurse's Marketing Weekly?

          Mine's the one... oh never mind!

        4. eldakka

          Re: yes, it's very nice but...

          Must admit, wasn't expecting that one.
          No one expects the suction dildo...

          1. jgarbo
            Devil

            Re: yes, it's very nice but...

            Except Rosie, who does it behind the Crown & Crumpet...

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: yes, it's very nice but...

        "Voila! the suction dildo."

        And I thank them immensely as the Missus and I had a wonderful time in the hotel shower on our last little romantic weekend away from the kids!

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: yes, it's very nice but...

        >Voila! the suction dildo.

        >A masterpiece of engineering.

        Pix or it didn't happen.

      4. Unicornpiss
        Paris Hilton

        Re: yes, it's very nice but...

        Are you saying the iPhone X is a $1,000 suction dildo?

        1. eldakka

          Re: yes, it's very nice but...

          Are you saying the iPhone X is a $1,000 suction dildo?

          A $1000 suction dildo would be more fun, and more useful, than an iPhone X.

    2. msknight

      Re: yes, it's very nice but...

      I believe that companies have been doing advancement for the sake of it, for years. In many areas, photography included, it's been about more megapixels, more shots per second, etc. and they've missed the more human advancements and ergonomics. I like the fact that instead of chasing megapixels, they've switched to HDR on-sensor, which I think is a much more worthy thing to go for. So the manufacturers are fighting for bragging rights in areas that I don't give a flying about, while missing the things I care about.

      I work in a cluster of Apple colleagues, (one of whom is currently configuring his X.) and had my hands on an iphone for some time, and I hear people say about usability, and it just works, but for me, it didn't. I was glad to hand it back. Things that just worked under Android, needed more software to be loaded and configured on iOS. I wanted to download video I shot on the phone, to a Linux laptop... but I couldn't. I wanted to transfer files by Bluetooth, but I couldn't... and ended up trawling the store for apps... there were a lot there, telling me that I wasn't the only one wanting to break out of the walled garden... but I couldn't. None of them worked. I was very glad to hand back the iPhone when I was able to use my WileyFox for work.

      Personally, I had a very dismal time in the Apple ecosystem. I do currently run a Macbook Air, but it's running Linux... because even their UK keyboard, isn't a UK keyboard, and as someone who is a touch typist, and switches between multiple systems, that keyboard itself has ensured I never buy another Mac.

      These days I'm on Sailfish, and while I'm not totally loving it, I'm looking forward to being able to afford Sailfish X and get a Sony Experia to run it on. And it will happen at my pace, no one else's.

      I guess my values are just out of touch with a society that seems to be glad to get itself in ever deepening debt over things that... well... I don't know. I wouldn't pay a grand for a phone though, I'll tell you that. Not unless it can do a damn sight more than map my face onto a pig emoji.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "they've missed the more human advancements and ergonomics"

        Yes, Sony missed them, other brands not so much... Canon revolutionized the camera design with its ergonomically designed T90 in 1986... but then someone believed that hipster retro designs make you a better photographer....

        Phones will never been real cameras, exactly because they lack the ergonomics. They are designed for other tasks, good if they can take photos also, but when your main task is taking photos (or video), you need a device designed for that.

        HDR in camera is close to useless.

        If you use Linux, you're not the Apple target. Someone who doesn't like to spend money is not within the Apple demographics, they like people willingly to spend a lot of money for hardware and software. So, blame yourself.

        1. John Sanders
          Flame

          Re: "they've missed the more human advancements and ergonomics"

          >> If you use Linux, you're not the Apple target. Someone who doesn't like to spend money is not

          >> within the Apple demographics, they like people willingly to spend a lot of money for hardware and

          >> software. So, blame yourself.

          Why do you think Linux users do not spend money?

          Couldn't it be instead that Apple products with all their "Think different" smarminess are just limiting our creativity to crapple's piggeon box walled garden?

          And that we require more flexibility on simple things that other vendor have mastered for 30 years like transferring files between devices?

          No thanks, I used Apple products in the 80's and save for the BSD kernel they use now it is the same smug overpriced shit it has always been.

          And having said that, early beer for me.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            "Why do you think Linux users do not spend money?"

            The commentards here. The many comments about how they can use old or cheap hardware, and they don't have to spend money on the hatred 'commercial' software. Otherwise they would have bought a Mac...

            There are two groups of people using Linux. For one, it's a political assertion in the name of Stallman and the GPL. The other is made of people who just find free stuff appealing, especially since Illegal copies of Windows and its software became harder to use (and running macOS on non Apple devices not so easy). Both not exactly groups you're going to target with not so cheap hardware and software , although someone can still find the bling and status symbol associated with some devices appealing, but they are still too few, no ROI.

            Obviously I'm talking about the 'desktop' consumer market. The 'server' one, and a few very vertical ones, are different.

            1. P. Lee

              Re: "Why do you think Linux users do not spend money?"

              >There are two groups of people using Linux.

              A bold and possibly incorrect statement.

              I like linux because it provides flexible tools which can be customised to solve the problems I have. Technically, any old unix (including MacOS) would do, but linux does it in an easy-to-use manner which also happens to be free.

              I have more than one mac and iphone per person in the house, but I run linux (and vmware-windows) on the machines I use for work because they are just easier and therefore more suited to those tasks. There is an element of cost control - with at least eleven running systems in the house, there's no way I'd be buying Mac's or Windows all round.

            2. Roo
              Windows

              Re: "Why do you think Linux users do not spend money?"

              "There are two groups of people using Linux. For one, it's a political assertion in the name of Stallman and the GPL. The other is made of people who just find free stuff appealing, especially since Illegal copies of Windows and its software became harder to use (and running macOS on non Apple devices not so easy)."

              There is at least one move group. That group paid for a vendor OS and then installed Linux anyway (like me, many times over) because quite frankly it is easier to use, more reliable and has more features out of the box. Certain vendor OSes out there don't ship basics such as a bourne shell, C compiler, standards compliant web browser, Python interpreter and a workable email client - you actually have to go out and install that stuff yourself from third parties...

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                "it is easier to use, more reliable and has more features out of the box."

                Sorry, I forgot there's a third group, those who have been brainwashed (by the first group) to believe Linux is "the best" - and all other OSes are the same from 1995 (your comment about reliability is a classic example of that). But this changes a little - they are a small minority and won't spend much money in hardware and software - the fact that a distro can bundle more software by default is exactly because it's free stuff you don't have to pay for.

                A C compiler, a command line shell or a Python interpreter are a "basic" need only for a niche of users. Again the lack of understanding what most users needs is what dooms Linux to be on less than 5% of desktops, and why desktop commercial software stays away from Linux.

                Believe me, I'd really like a good alternative to macOS and Windows, but the "superiority complex" stemming from Stallman himself doesn't really help...

                1. Roo
                  Windows

                  Re: "it is easier to use, more reliable and has more features out of the box."

                  "Sorry, I forgot there's a third group, those who have been brainwashed (by the first group) to believe Linux is "the best" -"

                  Brainwashing at the scale required to keep an OS user community afloat requires the kind of resources that a big name like Microsoft, IBM, Oracle or Apple bring to bear.

                  There is however a significant group of FUD pedallers out there (including you in this case) who prefer to denigrate users (aka potential customers, peers and folks with enough marbles to make their own minds up) rather than accept that a different OS is actually a better solution. Folks spewing FUD is a key indicator that they feel threatened by the alternative and are unable to come up with a proper reason to use the product they favour.

                  I've used CP/M, MS-DOS (1.x -> 6.0), Windows 3.x -> ME, 3.51 -> Windows 10, VMS (3.x -> OpenVMS), SunOS, Solaris, Minix, FreeBSD, MacOS, OS/X, OpenBSD and Linux. I've tried a lot of stuff out - and at the end of the day OpenBSD & Linux still get my personal vote, but I don't feel the need to denigrate other folk's choices.

                  I am curious why would you care enough to want to piss on other people's parades, do you feel threatened by people making choices that don't fit with your world view ? You behave as if your career depends on you pissing on the Linux community - why is that ?

                  "Believe me, I'd really like a good alternative to macOS and Windows, but the "superiority complex" stemming from Stallman himself doesn't really help..."

                  I didn't like the noises coming from Olsen/Cutler/Gates/Jobs/Ballmer either, but I still had a crack at making the best of the stuff they punted. In this instance you are the problem, not te solution.

                  1. Hans 1
                    Thumb Up

                    Re: "it is easier to use, more reliable and has more features out of the box."

                    @Boo

                    Something is wrong, here, why can I not upvote this 100 times ?

                2. Roo
                  Windows

                  Re: "it is easier to use, more reliable and has more features out of the box."

                  "Again the lack of understanding what most users needs is what dooms Linux to be on less than 5% of desktops, and why desktop commercial software stays away from Linux."

                  Desktop users are niche, most people use mobiles and don't run a desktop or even laptop at all.

                  However none of that is relevant to what suits my purposes. Your argument is pointless.

              2. Mage Silver badge

                Re: "Why do you think Linux users do not spend money?"

                "There are two groups of people using Linux"

                Increasingly a third group who are fed up with Windows GUI going backwards. MS data slurping. The way updates work.

                I've used Linux on machines OTHER than main Windows Laptop seriously since 1999. Last year it became my main everyday use on my new laptop,

                I've used Mac OS9 and Mac OS X on other people's Apples and far better than Win 9x. But couldn't see the point of extra cost compared to PROPERLY configured Windows XP, besides by 2007 my main reason to run Windows was to keep running windows SW I'd bought, not on Mac or Linux.

                I bought an Apple II, real waste of money compared to a more expensive S100 box by time it was upgraded.

              3. Hans 1
                Stop

                Re: "Why do you think Linux users do not spend money?"

                There is at least one move group. That group paid for a vendor OS and then installed Linux anyway

                I beg you, implore you, please stop. You are funding SCUM - they don't care if you run their software, provided you pay them when you buy a computer ... there are plenty of outfits that sell computers with Linux pre-installed that need your support, provided, of course, that they have the kit you are looking for ...

                I build towers, so buy the parts separately ... last time I flung cash over to Slurp was in the 90's for an intelliMouse.

                1. Roo

                  Re: "Why do you think Linux users do not spend money?"

                  @Hans1

                  I understand the sentiment of not funding scum, but in practice I have found buying an ScumTax free thin and light lappy pretty tricky. FWIW I build towers from bits or choose barebones boxes.

            3. jgarbo
              Linux

              Re: "Why do you think Linux users do not spend money?"

              You obviously don't understand Linux or its users. The vast majority of servers run Linux, because it's reliable. Geeks run Linux because it's versatile, flexible and extensible. I run Linux because I make it do exactly what I want quickly, reliably. The average desktop user doesn't know or care about the box under the table. OK. Yet more frequently I'm installing Linux for them because Windows doesn't work, help is useless and they're tired of hassles. Linux can be free, if you know how to run it. Or you can pay for it via service, eg Redhat. That's Linux. Options in a closed shop.

            4. clochard

              Re: "Why do you think Linux users do not spend money?"

              I use Linux because it has less complexity, problems, and bloatware than Windows (I have never used a Mac) and runs Chrome, Firefox, and many other great programs. Being free is just a bonus. Any problem that I've had was solved with a google search. Linux Mint has been my choice for over a decade.

          2. Hans 1
            Boffin

            Re: "they've missed the more human advancements and ergonomics"

            crapple's piggeon box walled garden?

            Please enlighten me, in what way is Android's ecosystem not also a pigeon box walled garden ?

            macOS X has a Mach kernel, so not really a BSD kernel ... it does have BSD userland tools, though, which is cool ;-). Admittedly not so cool for the Linux generation ... Real UNIX, though I do miss POSIX_ME_HARDER ... arghhh, mon cœur balance.

        2. heyrick Silver badge

          Re: "they've missed the more human advancements and ergonomics"

          "Phones will never been real cameras"

          My S7 takes some pretty impressive photos, but the thing that will always let a phone down, no matter how good the image sensor, is that phone builders cannot justify making the phone an inch thick in order to tuck in a basic pop-out lens. The pinch to zoom basically throws away the edges of the image and scales up the middle. You're no better off than if you just took a normal (un-zoomed) photo and scaled it up with your favourite image editor. This is a far cry from optical zoom where zooming in focuses a narrower view of the image on the entire sensor, leading to enhanced clarity and no loss of quality due to the zoom.

          So when it comes to shots where you can't be right beside the action (think of anything from bird watching to your child's school play) a phone will always be at a disadvantage.

          1. Charles 9

            Re: "they've missed the more human advancements and ergonomics"

            Because customers have spoken: skinny sells. Phone makers have no choice but to work around that demand or basically drop out of the market.

          2. jgarbo

            Re: "they've missed the more human advancements and ergonomics"

            If you want to win a horse you don't ride a camel. If you want pop out lenses you want a camera, not a phone. Kit for the job.

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