Deep Dive into the Apple Watch Series 8: Analyzing FCC Internal Photographs
Apple Watch Model A2775 (Source: fcc.gov)
Using Submitted FCC ID Application Photos to Learn About Features and Design.
Welcome to the first-ever FCC Insights Product Deep Dive series where we use the publicly available FCC database information to learn about electronic device features and their designs. In this episode, we’re going to take a look at the Apple Watch Series 8 model A2775 or FCC ID: BCG-A2775.
The Apple Watch is a giant in the wearable device market. With over 50 million devices sold and $14+ billion in revenue in 2022, it has quickly grown to dominate the competition. The Series 8 launched in September of 2022 at a starting price of $399.
In this Article
General Specs
This particular Series 8 model has a 45mm case and comes with GPS and cellular capabilities. Apple gives two size options for the Series 8: 41mm or 45mm. There are other models like the A2771 which only have GPS if you don’t need another cellular plan in your life.
- Water resistant up to a depth of 50 meters under ISO standard 22810:2010
- IP6X dust resistant
Screen Display
Resolution: 484 x 396 pixels
Pixel density: ~326 ppi
Max Brightness: 1000 nits
Built-In Sensors
Blood oxygen sensor, Electrical heart sensor, Third-generation optical heart sensor, High-g accelerometer, High dynamic range gyroscope, Ambient light sensor, Speaker, Microphone
Wireless Features
802.11 b/g/n, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3, A2DP, and LE, GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, BDS, NFC
Power
Apple Watch Series 8 supports a built-in, non-removable 3.86V, 308 mAh Li-Ion battery
Chipsets
CPU: S8 processor
Storage: 32GB eMMC 5.1
Memory: 1GB RAM
FCC Product Teardown
Let’s walk through the submitted internal photographs of the Apple Watch Series 8 to see the hardware that enables some of the features we just looked at.
Internal Photo #1 (Source: fcc.gov)
In this first photo, we can see what the Apple watch has nestled in its case when the screen is carefully lifted up. We immediately notice the two largest hardware components: A 308 mAh Li-Ion battery and a box-like component labeled “Taptic Engine”. The Taptic Engine is the buzzer component used to give vibration feedback to the user and help expel any water from inside the case after a swim.
Above the battery, sitting underneath the display, we can see various flex PCBs, IC’s rigid boards, connectors, and mechanical supports. These likely contain the display components and required connections, among other things.
Internal Photo #2 (Source: fcc.gov)
In this next photograph, we can see the device with the battery, Taptic Engine, and display completely removed from the rest of the housing. The small scale of the battery is always impressive. The back of the Taptic Engine does not yield anything new except we can see it was attached via a flex cable.
We can now see that sitting under the battery is likely the main processor circuit board. This is probably where the power, display, and Taptic Engine are connected to in the assembly. Again, the small scale of PCB components and connectors is impressive. This is common in most wearables as users don’t want to wear bulky things.
Internal Photo #3 (Source: fcc.gov)
Here we can see the main PCB removed. There is no much on this board that we can see besides some connectors and copper traces, we can conclude that this is the bottom of the main PCB.
Internal Photo #4 (Source: fcc.gov)
Now we see the brains of the Apple Watch Series 8, the S7 processor chip built and designed by Apple. It is interesting that in the FCC photographs, the device used for testing contains the S7 chip while Apple markets that Series 8 models use the S8 chip.
The material surrounding the processor appears to be metal, likely for heat dissipation purposes. Perhaps this heat sink sits on top of or is molded into the PCB to keep the low profile.
Internal Photo #5 (Source: fcc.gov)
This PCB looks like it has embedded coils for wireless induction charging the battery. Wireless charging is a relatively new feature in electronic devices. It’s interesting to see various design and engineering methods for it. Apple chose to embed five coils for charging the Li-ion battery. You can also see what is likely the IC that controls the wireless charging.
Internal Photo #6 (Source: fcc.gov)
Now we can jump down below the main and wireless charging PCBs and look at the part of the watch that sits on top of a user's wrist. This part of the assembly houses most of the built-in sensors for tracking and measuring data from the user.
It’s hard to make out any particular component in this photo, but we can see a larger metal piece that could be the back of a power-intensive sensor. The metal would be helpful in thermal regulation, like a heatsink. We can also see what is probably a board-to-board connector that routes the signals from the sensors back to the main PCB for processing.
Internal Photo #7 (Source: fcc.gov)
Lastly, we come to the very bottom of the watch which contains the magnets used for Apple's famous magnetic charging mechanism. We’re not sure if the magnets are used for more than mechanically securing the watch to its included charger, but it's impressive nonetheless to fit so many different types of electrical components in such a small-sized system and have everything function properly.
You can see 4 equal-sized magnets in a circular array, along with cavities with what looks like other various sensors. Having used an Apple watch and attaching it to its charger, we believe these could be neodymium magnets which are very strong in small sizes.
Apple Watch Series 8 Teardown Summary
Well, that is a wrap for us.
In this article, we looked at some general features, specifications, and internal photographs of FCC ID: BCG-A775, a.k.a the international model of the Apple Watch Series 8. The Apple Watch is an impressive feat of engineering that has come to be expected from the likes of the Apple team.
For more information, including all the FCC application documents, information, and test reports, check out the FCC ID page for this ID that is linked at the top of this article. Stay tuned for more engineering deep-dive articles like this one on your favorite electronic gadgets only at FCC Insights.
DISCLAIMER: This article was written based on the research and knowledge of the author. We do not claim that any of the information is 100% accurate.
