Apple Watch's S1 Chip Uses 28-Nanometer Samsung Process, Unique Packaging

According to Chipworks, Apple’s S1 chip — the processor at the heart of the Apple Watch — was made using Samsung’s 28-nanometer LP process. While this is still considerably small, it is not the smallest that Apple has used, suggesting there is room for improvement in the near term. To put things in context, Apple is currently using a 20-nanometer process with the current A8 and is expected to move to a 14-nanometer process in the upcoming A9.

As highlighted in an X-ray analysis by Chipworks and iFixit, the S1 also packs well over 30 components including wireless chips, charging lines, sensors, and audio processors all inside a resin-encapsulated package. It’s quite an amazing achievement, with Chipworks calling the entire S1 “very unique.”

Some of the other key findings include:

• The new Apple APL0778 application processor measures 5.2 mm x 6.2 mm and is fabbed on Samsung’s 28 nm LP process.
• Dialog has the PMIC socket for the watch, but Maxim got the codec and amplifier sockets. What happened to Cirrus? They had been the incumbent in iPhones and iPads for several generations.
• NXP scored the NFC and secure element and interface socket, and Austria Micro Systems got the NFC signal booster
• STMicroelectronics not only grabbed the 6-axis sensor, but they also have an ST32 MCU within the S1, as well as the optical emitter/sensor encoder die under the shaft of the Digital Crown.
• Texas Instruments has 6 wins in the S1 ranging from battery management to opp amps.
• Skyworks Wi-Fi LNA + switch and PA