Gregory A. Quirk
Video Imaging DesignLine

On September 9, Apple announced a new line of iPods. This lineup included changes to the shuffle, nano and touch. Semiconductor Insights was eager to see what components were different between the first- and second- generation touches, as well as compare it with the iPhone 3G, which was released only months ago.

The iPod touch offers interesting technology improvements that put it on par with the iPhone when used as a multimedia player. The screen size and resolution remain the same, but speakers were added, as opposed to the piezoelectric sound from the previous generation, which was only used to make the basic sounds, like clicking when the device was unlocked. The volume can now be controlled with an external button instead of changing the levels on the touch screen. This has been a feature of the iPhone, and is a welcome addition to the touch. Finally, the battery life is estimated to have been extended by an hour during video playback and eight hours during music playback.

We identified two significant component changes in the iPod touch. First is the manufacturer of the NAND Flash memory. The 8-GB iPod touch contains Micron NAND Flash. The previous touch had memory supplied by Samsung and the iPhone 3G uses Toshiba; this shows that Apple is no longer playing favorites with any particular memory manufacturer. In the past, Apple had an agreement with Samsung to provide the memory devices, but that has apparently expired--Samsung memory has not been identified in the iPhone 3G or second-generation iPod touch systems we analyzed. This could be due to the fact that other manufacturers are offering a lower price, that Apple demand is too high for any single vendor to handle, or that Apple has multiple second-source vendors to ensure an adequate supply of NAND flash.

Die photo of Broadcom BCM4325 Bluetooth and FM receiver

The second change, and more significant, was the inclusion of the Broadcom BCM4325. This is a low-power 802.11 a/b/g with Bluetooth 2.1 + enhanced data rate (EDR) and an FM receiver. This device provides the wireless connectivity to access Web sites, iTunes and apps store, and communicate with accessories like the Nike+ iPod Sensor (which does not need the Sports Kit when used with the second-generation iPod touch). The Wi-Fi feature has two options, either a single-band 2.4-GHz 802.11 b/g or a dual-band 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz 802.11 a/b/g. The part number referenced on the device taken from the second-generation Apple iPod Touch is BCM4325GKWBG, which is the single-band solution.

When the iPhone 3G was released there was speculation about Apple choosing an integrated chip for the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities. It was surprising, then, that Apple implemented a two-chip solution--the Wi-Fi powered by Marvell's 88W8686 and the Bluetooth from Cambridge Silicon Radio's BlueCore6 device.