The information that follows comes predominantly from my discussions with Portelligent, along with published reports of their findings. I've supplemented it with my analysis of similar (and oft-contradictory) reports from iSuppli and Semiconductor Insights, coupled with additional close-up internal images published by AnandTech, Ars Technica, the FCC, iFixit, PDAParts, and Think Secret. And finally, I've added to the blend some information that I obtained from anonymous in-the-know confidants. Apple's an extremely paranoid company, both with respect to its employees

　　If you peruse AnandTech, iFixit, or Think Secret's pictorial step-by-step disassemblies, or PDAParts' or Semiconductor Insights' abbreviated YouTube clips, you'll hopefully get a sense of just how precisely designed the iPhone is. For that reason, I doubt there's a large degree of automated assembly involved; the iPhone is likely constructed largely by hand in China (where iPods are built today) or some other location with low-cost, highly skilled labor. Compare the iPhone imagery to that of the Compaq iPaq 3835, which was the subject of my Nov. 23, 2006 Prying Eyes piece. Now consider that the iPhone integrates Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GSM cellular data and voice, along with a position sensor, none of which the iPaq provides, along with a much more powerful CPU and substantially more nonvolatile and volatile memory. Finally, realize that the iPhone's form factor is almost 3× smaller in total volume than that of the iPaq 3835 (in fairness, I should point out that the iPaq 3835's screen is 0.25-in. wider than that of the iPhone, although the two LCD's lengths are identical). After digesting this data, you'll likely walk away quite impressed, as I was, with the accomplishments of Apple's electrical and mechanical engineering teams, as well as with the integration accomplishments of Apple's various semiconductor suppliers.

　　At the bottom left corner of the overview photo, you'll see a 2-megapixel Micron CMOS sensor, which combines with a three-element, fixed-focus, fixed-focal-length lens to create the iPhone's flash-deficient and still-image capture-only camera.

　　The 3.7V lithium-ion battery in the bottom right corner of the photo consumes a dominant percentage of the iPhone's total volume, and is a key determinant of the device's substantial specified battery life. Apple estimates that after 400 recharge cycles, the battery will still retain up to 80% of its original capacity; replacing it will cost you $79 plus $6.95 shipping, with an estimated three-business-day turnaround. For an additional fee, the company will even loan you a spare iPhone while yours is in the shop.

　　Between the iPhone's camera and battery, in the photo, you'll find a single flex circuit that encompasses all of the iPhone's antennas; a combined 2.4-GHz Bluetooth/Wi-Fi element and a separate (and much larger) multiband (850-, 900-, 1800- and 1900-MHz) cellular element. The planar antennas attach to the phone speaker's acoustical chamber.

　　The 3.5-in. diagonal (2×3-in.) LTPS TFT LCD (Picture), which includes National Semiconductor's Mobile Pixel Link serial interface receiver in a chip-on-glass implementation, delivers a 480×320-pixel (half-VGA) resolution at 160 dpi, but Apple doesn't specify the display's color depth (either native or dithered). The touchscreen elements arrange in a coordinate system capable of supporting both self- and mutual-capacitance modes, thereby enabling simultaneous multitouch support managed by an Apple-labeled, Broadcom-supplied touchscreen controller and an NXP Semiconductor ARM7TDMI processor. The "How Stuff Works" site has a good summary of how the iPhone's touchscreen works its magic.