Qualcomm SiP1 – an attempt to improve the quality of low-cost smartphones in developing countries or a way to reduce the cost of production?
Here and below are photographs of the Brazilian edition of Tudocelular tecnologia ltda, the only one admitted to the new 'insides' Asus.
The average user is unlikely to be interested in the carriers of the new Qualcomm SiP1, these are ordinary mid-range smartphones with basic ASUS capabilities Zenfone Max Shot and Max Plus M2, presented in Brazil last week. Much more interesting is what is inside smartphones, and believe me, there is something to see.
Content
- Motherboard of a modern smartphone
- SiP instead of SoC
- Pros and cons of SiP
Motherboard of a modern smartphone
When creating the very first smartphones, developers were forced to rely on the experience they gained when creating computers. Not only because engineers entered a new area of expertise, but also because there was already a well-functioning production system, personnel structure, marketing and understanding of sales channels. This approach has led to the fact that the stuffing of smartphones can be perceived as a 'small computer', with a small motherboard, tiny central processing unit and video card, RAM and storage. It doesn't matter at all that all these components are firmly soldered into the motherboard, this does not change the essence. All these elements can be easily found on the motherboard of an old smartphone:
The motherboard LG G2 D802 is very similar to a laptop, the elements are scattered throughout the area.
In those days, 65 nm was considered the advanced technological process of manufacturing a microchip for a smartphone, and a graphics accelerator might not exist at all. But time went on, 65 nm gave way to the more delicate 32, and all the components were rapidly reduced in size. This made it possible to place the computational cores of the central processor, a graphics accelerator, DRAM and ROM controllers on the same platform (substrate). The sum of the elements necessary for the operation of the entire system was considered sufficient to call such a design SoC (SoC) – 'system on a chip'. This is the common name we still use today. Whereas the multiprocessor configuration used in modern smartphones is more correctly called MPSoC (multiprocessor SoC).
Qualcomm S3 PRO reference for developers
Qualcomm SDM835 based
The creation of a modern smartphone begins with the selection of components, and a decisive role is played by the study of the reference platform, which chip makers demonstrate simultaneously with the announcement of a new chipset in their price list. No matter how much the smartphone manufacturer tries to reduce the cost of the platform (for example, by soldering 512 MB of RAM instead of the 2 GB planned), it still relies on the reference. The reference, the creation of which, by the way, is a financial burden on the shoulders of the chip maker in the first place. Getting rid of the need to create a reference seems to be the only reasonable argument that explains the return of the SIP-style motherboard design standard. And not at all those pious tales that accompany his appearance on other resources.
SIP instead of SoC
System packaging in the form of a SiP (System in Package) is not new. At one time it was used in the manufacture of cheap cell phones, music players, etc. And the main reason for using such packaging is to optimize (reduce the cost) of the production of the final device. If you take the place of an ordinary capitalist, then it becomes obvious that it is much more profitable to produce a processor in a relatively developed country (Brazil), and a motherboard for it, which does not require high-tech technologies, is in the jungle, where you can pay with hired bananas. Moreover, the fewer electrical elements and devices are placed on the motherboard, the less can be paid to the creators of the PCB and conductor tracks on it. As you can see in the comparative photos below:
The increase in free space on the board when using Qualcomm SiP1 (left) compared to SoC in ZenFone 5 (right)
There are several times fewer elements on the motherboard Zenfone Max Shot than when using the standard SoC on the board Zenfone 5. The announced Qualcomm SiP1 is a regular piece of PCB, which houses 8 CPU cores (presumably Cortex A-53) with a frequency of 1.83 GHz, Adreno 506 video accelerator, all modems and communication devices, all RAM (4 GB) and all permanent memory (64 GB).
The main Qualcomm SiP1 plant is being completed in the Brazilian city of São Paulo and will reach full production capacity in 2020. All presentations support the idea that the construction of this plant will spur technical development throughout Latin America, but very different arguments, such as profit and politics, come to mind.
Early prototype. Pay attention to the labeling of the right sample 'QSIP', this is exactly how – 'Qualcomm System-in-Package' it was planned to name the product originally.
A variant of the concept and name from the manufacturer's website. The pinout shows that only camera modules, vibration motor, antennas and connectors remain on the board.
Pros and cons of SiP
Pros for Qualcomm:
– A definite plus for Qualcomm will be the complete absence of the need to mess with unqualified smartphone manufacturers, to spend their time and resources on them.
– Full protection against reputational losses in the event of an impudent and irresponsible reduction in the cost of components by the final brand. No one else will be able to combine in one sentence 'Qualcomm' and 'slow storage', or 'microfreezes', or 'warming up' – you can always say that the company is responsible for the quality of the SiP, and not the smartphone's motherboard.
“The Sao Paulo plant will open up almost the entire Latin continent for Qualcomm, including countries with cheap labor. Perhaps (but not exactly), over time, the traditional centers of production will move from Asia to the countries of Latin America, where people are not at all spoiled by the fruits of civilization (unlike modern China or Korea) and they can be paid less.
Pros for smartphone developers:
– No need to fiddle with the selection of components, and you can focus on design and marketing.
– By freeing up free space on the circuit board, it became possible to equip smartphones with additional devices such as large speakers, various signal amplifiers, etc., without increasing the size of the final smartphone.
– SiP layout greatly simplifies the development of new devices (including IoT), as it has good performance and small size.
Pros for the consumer:
– When choosing a new smartphone, the question of the quality (and quantity) of RAM and internal storage, and hence the speed of the entire system, is removed.
The underside of the SiP1 basically allows the entire device to be removable. Perhaps a new mobile socket will appear?
– The introduction of SiP makes repairing a smartphone cheaper – after diagnostics, you can change one thing, either the motherboard (or is it more correct to call it a wiring board so as not to get confused?), Or SiP, and not the entire board. If the dream of the consumer-enthusiast comes true, of course.
Minuses:
Perhaps it will seem strange to someone, but I do not like the idea of SiP, it is unlikely that in our specific conditions smartphones will suddenly fall in price, which would somehow justify such a return to the past. There was no increase in the performance of the chipset either, but rather just a cosmetic change to the existing one (in fact, something very similar to the SDM450 / 625/632 was repackaged).
All the 'sealing building' of the components could be done by a third-party developer, without going beyond the SoC concept. So what's the progress?
What do you think, friends? Is the use of SiP in a smartphone a plus or a minus?