Comment by 2bitencryption
7 years ago
You just know there was a days-long meeting about "the Helium problem", including graphs of how likely different user-personas are to enter a zeppelin, work in a balloon factory, or attend exceedingly well-funded birthday parties.
After debating late nights about whether to pony up for the new better-sealed clock, someone said "Screw it, throw it in the user agreement."
"better sealed clock" would be the universally used quartz resonator, but that would have added 0.002$ to their cost. Unthinkable.
Nice try! The SiT512 Apple uses is more expensive than a quartz resonator. I don’t have Apple’s specific BOM details, but I’d guess it’s likely something like 2x the cost.
it's only more expensive in small quantities. after you ramp up, it's infinitely cheaper as you can produce them on waffers. also you are thinking BOM alone. the selling point of silicon mechanical instead of crystal is that it can be assembled faster and cheaper, greatly offsetting the item cost.
but don't trust me, see the "advantages" of manufacturers promotion https://www.electronicdesign.com/analog/look-inside-programm...
I think the reason they used the helium-affected clock is because it was smaller, not bec it was cheaper.
What are some of the most egregious cost-cutting measures have Apple take in the past? I’m genuinely curious.
china production?