Apple's Unusual Headset Design Has Led to Unprecedented Production Challenges(macrumors.com)
macrumors.com
Apple's Unusual Headset Design Has Led to Unprecedented Production Challenges
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/05/31/report-details-apple-headset-unusual-design/
16 comments
Flexie circuit boards (commonly known as fpcs) have indeed been around for a long time. They are mostly used for interposer connctors and small components like LEDs, microphones, proximity sensors,small discretes etc. etc.
Based on the term "motherboard" used here I'm interpreting this to mean a bent/curved rigid circuit board which to my knowledge, is in fact novel. Obviously,the sections of the board containing the SoC and other chips will need to be flat, so I'm interested to see the utility here.
Based on the term "motherboard" used here I'm interpreting this to mean a bent/curved rigid circuit board which to my knowledge, is in fact novel. Obviously,the sections of the board containing the SoC and other chips will need to be flat, so I'm interested to see the utility here.
> ... bent/curved rigid circuit board which to my knowledge, is in fact novel.
Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what they're actually doing.
Curved (in 3d space) circuit boards are certainly not novel in wearables though.
It's a very common design requirement to shape things to the human body area the device is being placed upon.
Thus people creating their own circuit boards using CNC on non-planar surfaces and similar. Saying that from having done it myself several years ago. There are also Youtube videos about this stuff as well.
Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what they're actually doing.
Curved (in 3d space) circuit boards are certainly not novel in wearables though.
It's a very common design requirement to shape things to the human body area the device is being placed upon.
Thus people creating their own circuit boards using CNC on non-planar surfaces and similar. Saying that from having done it myself several years ago. There are also Youtube videos about this stuff as well.
I've never seen a curved rigid board and I'm having a hard time understanding how SMT would work. If you have examples I'd love to see them.
I've spent the last 15 years as a hardware design engineer in consumer electronics, 4 of those years were working on wrist worn wearables for one of the biggest players. Wearables utilize FPCs for curved sections. Sometimes sections the FPC will be stiffened with pieces of FR4 to support larger components, but the SoC, DDR, etc is always SMTd to flat rigid PCB. I've heard reports of rigid boards being bent if the stack up is only a few layers, but have never seen in a production product. Generally the traces and solder ball joints for the chips can't handle the strain.
I've spent the last 15 years as a hardware design engineer in consumer electronics, 4 of those years were working on wrist worn wearables for one of the biggest players. Wearables utilize FPCs for curved sections. Sometimes sections the FPC will be stiffened with pieces of FR4 to support larger components, but the SoC, DDR, etc is always SMTd to flat rigid PCB. I've heard reports of rigid boards being bent if the stack up is only a few layers, but have never seen in a production product. Generally the traces and solder ball joints for the chips can't handle the strain.
This thing just keeps sounding weirder and weirder, I’m so curious to see how they’re gonna try and sell it at WWDC.
FWIW, here's how they're selling AR now: https://www.apple.com/augmented-reality/ I'd bet that XR headset messaging will be an evolution of this, with a continued focus on partner apps/games.
I have to say that after reading about this, I'm kind of excited for it. Not necessarily because I like VR/AR headsets, but because it looks like Apple is pushing the boundaries on device manufacturing which is pretty cool.
All I want for Christmas is some glasses that give me the equivalent of two or three responsive, stable 32” QHD external monitors and a decent field of view (like >=110 deg.).
I feel like this would be easier for manufacturers to achieve and refine if they weren’t trying to make their glasses do everything else (AR industrial apps, VR gaming, etc). It seems to me that just about every professional would want a pair for plane/train trips at least. While not a market as huge the one dreamed of by offering the holy grail of VR, it’s still a sizable audience.
To me it’s the holy grail of remote work. I can do a lot of my job from just about anywhere, but certain parts really benefit from having sizable external monitors which I’m absolutely not lugging around. Every alternative solution (external 15” screen(s), projectors) are far less than ideal workarounds, despite possessing the advantage of being obtainable.
I feel like this would be easier for manufacturers to achieve and refine if they weren’t trying to make their glasses do everything else (AR industrial apps, VR gaming, etc). It seems to me that just about every professional would want a pair for plane/train trips at least. While not a market as huge the one dreamed of by offering the holy grail of VR, it’s still a sizable audience.
To me it’s the holy grail of remote work. I can do a lot of my job from just about anywhere, but certain parts really benefit from having sizable external monitors which I’m absolutely not lugging around. Every alternative solution (external 15” screen(s), projectors) are far less than ideal workarounds, despite possessing the advantage of being obtainable.
Those slideout-from-laptop-lid "bolt-on" USB displays are pretty nifty in the meantime.
At this point, I hope that Apple says absolutely nothing about a headset, not even a word, at WWDC and answers every question with the same "We don't comment on unreleased products."
If not, "Headset? What headset? You can't believe everything you read in the gossip blogs."
If not, "Headset? What headset? You can't believe everything you read in the gossip blogs."
How is Mark Gurman not investigated/sued by Apple
He’s just a reporter. He’s not doing anything illegal. It might be different if he’s paying sources to leak stuff, I guess.
The bigger question is who is doing the leaking from within Apple. It will be interesting to see what turns out to be true. It’s also very interesting to wonder how much of the leaking is intentional and strategic.
If they wanted to set expectations low and diffuse a lot of naysaying, it makes sense for them to leak all the stuff people are likely to moan about. That way when they demo it, all the actual experience stuff will (hopefully) be a pleasant surprise.
The bigger question is who is doing the leaking from within Apple. It will be interesting to see what turns out to be true. It’s also very interesting to wonder how much of the leaking is intentional and strategic.
If they wanted to set expectations low and diffuse a lot of naysaying, it makes sense for them to leak all the stuff people are likely to moan about. That way when they demo it, all the actual experience stuff will (hopefully) be a pleasant surprise.
Him having Bloomberg cred is probably what's keeping him out of jail.
For what crime?
Hmmm, that sounds weird.
Dassault Systèmes 3DExperience has supported non-planar and flexible circuit boards for years - if not decades - at this point.
• https://www.3ds.com/3dexperience/