A look at an original iPhone prototype

A look at an original iPhone prototype(theverge.com)

184 points by Assossa 7 years ago | 56 comments

Seeing what looks like a full iPhone attached to it (I know it's just the screen, but the inclusion of a taped-over home button is interesting) gives me kind of a "Thinking quickly, Dave constructed an iPhone using a circuit board, some tape, and an iPhone" vibe.

sjwright 7 years ago | |

That's likely a ex post facto hack, as a production iPhone's front piece was likely attached to make this prototyping board more complete.

The engineers back then certainly wouldn't have seen the iPhone-shaped screen assembly, they would either use the video out to a regular monitor (sufficient for most hardware testing and kernel development) while the developers responsible for making the touch screen work might have gotten a screen unit that wasn't iPhone-shaped.

(This particular board might have been assigned to someone who was only ever expected to use the video output ports.)

95014_refugee 7 years ago | | |

These dev boards were modular, so that engineers without a need-to-know for e.g. the screen or radio didn’t get one. But this is not a retrofit; if you needed a display or touch then this is what you got.

The video out ports were only used for the 30-pin video out, the main display never ran on them (could not run on them).

iPhoneOS kernel developers could hardly care less about the display; everything was done with the serial port and JTAG (I don’t recall whether Ethernet debug was ever supported).

There are a bunch of other errors / misconceptions in the article sadly. These boards were pretty cool & highly functional and it’s sad not to see justice done to them.

mav3rick 7 years ago | |

That's how most prototype boards are. The idea being you can do develop / do bring up and see the graphics / boot etc.

augustl 7 years ago | |

I was also curious about that. In other stories I've read, I've heard it referred to as a big ugly box with a touch screen embedded on top of it, which is what I imagined most people worked on. But this just looks like a normal iPhone with a large breadboard connected.

95014_refugee 7 years ago | | |

Since the iPad display is much larger than the phone display, sitting it on the board like this wasn’t practical. There was an iPad dev board that looked a lot like this, but there were also ‘acrylics’ - chassis made from cnc’d Acrylic sheeting - that supported the screen connected to the board by a flex.

Most engineers wanted nothing to do with the display units; they were bulky and relatively fragile and desk space is always at a premium.

ianhowson 7 years ago | | |

I always imagined that the iPad came about because some engineer had a Retina iPhone prototype on a standard 72dpi screen and figured it might work to replace a laptop.

Take the old eMac software, and bam, iPad.

(100% speculation)

joezydeco 7 years ago | | |

That’s this (earlier) development system.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/03/exclusive-super-earl...

elagost 7 years ago |

If anything a big board like this is one way to ensure it's not easy to steal.

The on-board (pun intended) documentation - "Do not connect battery without removing J49", etc - is pretty neat too. Is this something that's fairly standard in the industry?

henrikeh 7 years ago | |

Yes. Such notes are standard for development hardware.

Items 6.14.* on http://pcbchecklist.com gives an overview of what is typical.

ATsch 7 years ago | |

It's pretty common. If you have the time and space on a board, it's a good idea to fill the silkscreen with useful or important information.

PascLeRasc 7 years ago | | |

I love when the info makes it to the shipped version. My bass amp has a miniature schematic drawing etched into itself, it's been incredibly useful. Here's my favorite PCB etching though: http://i.imgur.com/28cYobo.jpg

tyingq 7 years ago |

The "M68" name is interesting, given that Apple has a long history with the M68K processor, which isn't involved here. I wonder if it's a nod to the first Mac or the Lisa.

corobo 7 years ago | |

Probably named that way to throw people off the scent if the project name got leaked

pdxandi 7 years ago |

That's really interesting. Whose job is it to actually design and develop the prototype board? It seems like that team would have to know quite a bit, if not nearly everything, about the device.

hatsunearu 7 years ago | |

Usually the design engineer that handles the production board goes through the EVT boards.

Basically the purpose of EVT to a) ensure all the components identified in the initial survey/design review actually work together b) enable software development early in the process c) iron out any showstoppers and kinks that could jeopardize the project later on.

The next few design stages usually get rid of all the super-debug stuff (such as the ethernet port on the iphone; also maybe get the form factor down) while still retaining the regular debug stuff (JTAG etc). This usually when mechanical can jump in and preliminary compliance stuff can take place (EMC etc)

Cd00d 7 years ago |

Why the anonymous source? 10 year old secrets in a rapid-development technology seem like non-secrets, so who's willing to "leak" but not be identifiable at this point?

Maybe Apple has strict secrecy rules that are only partially enforced? I don't quite get it.

benologist 7 years ago | |

Apple had police raid a Gizmodo editor's home searching for a lost iPhone prototype they had obtained -

https://www.pcworld.com/article/195053/gizmodo_iphone_police...

Same company that once optimized negative publicity just by making an official guideline warning iOS developers not to talk to the press...

     "If you run to the press and trash us, it never helps."

https://web.archive.org/web/20141226094343/https://developer...

close04 7 years ago | |

If that person is still connected to Apple they may not want to sabotage the relationship.

daniel_reetz 7 years ago | |

Apple has an extreme focus on secrecy.

Apple probably considers this board their property.

95014_refugee 7 years ago | | |

It is their property. They paid for it, and it was never sold or otherwise transferred.

mandeepj 7 years ago |

> "many of the engineers working on the original handset didn’t even know what it would eventually look like"

This is a stretch. Guaranteed that if you are working on just chips then you might be living in just your own silo.

retSava 7 years ago |

Is it me or does it look like the top layer has reaaaaally thick copper? Look at how it differs between areas with those squares contra area without. Looks like it's very very thick. Perhaps the solder mask.

jacquesm 7 years ago | |

Nothing out of the ordinary for prototypes. Much easier to solder fixes to without accidentally stripping a trace and better RF properties, which will help with an oversized board like this one.

omilu 7 years ago |

Is the checkerboard pattern on the top layer for aesthetics, or is it functional for EMI reduction.

jeffwheeler 7 years ago | |

I suspect this is to avoid warping on a large board. They probably used hatching to match the amount of copper on the top and bottom of the board.

zpeti 7 years ago |

Does it connect to my airpods though? :)

saagarjha 7 years ago | |

The new AirPods supposedly require "an iCloud account and macOS 10.14.4, iOS 12.2, or watchOS 5.2", so it doesn't look like it :P

jacquesm 7 years ago | | |

What a nonsense. As if earbuds would require the cloud to function somehow. This 'I'm forcing my cloud down your throat' stuff has to stop.

penagwin 7 years ago | | |

Perhaps ironically the board seems to have 2 aux ports :P