Apple Reportedly Looking at Simple Battery Board Design for iPhone 12 to Save Costs

Apple is supposedly looking to offset costs for the iPhone 12 due to the increased costs incurred by the transition to 5G networking. The company is apparently looking to minimize price increases in its new devices. Therefore, Apple is attempting to cut costs on minor components, the battery board included.

According to MacRumors, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has written a new research note which states Apple is determined to find alternative ways to cut costs as to not increase the price of their upcoming flagship devices. Kuo has said that Apple’s adoption of Sub-6GHz 5G technology will increase the company’s costs by $75–$85 USD. Additionally, millimetre wave technology will increase Apple’s costs by $125–$135 USD.

Kuo believes that Apple will be moving to a more simple battery board design for the iPhone 12. The company, as Kuo as stated, has been putting “higher bargaining pressure” on its suppliers in order to cut costs on its upcoming smartphones. The new battery board will reportedly be smaller with fewer layers. Based on Kuo’s notes, the hybrid hard and soft battery board will be roughly 40-50 percent cheaper than the board in the iPhone 11. Although, the saving on the battery board will only be a small contributing factor in the iPhone 12’s pricing.

Apple is hoping to continue to save on iPhone 12 costs into the future. In 2021, the company is expected to transition to an entirely soft battery board, which would tac on an additional 30 percent in savings for the iPhone 12.

Kuo’s research papers also note that Apple has been looking at circuit board suppliers to cut costs for its AirPods. The average price of hybrid boards in the AirPods 2 declining up to 25-35 percent since the first half of the year. Though, Kuo expects suppliers may face hurdles when the AirPods 3 launch in the first half of 2021 as the new wireless earbuds as said to adopt an integrated system-in-package (SiP) rather than the surface-mount technology (SMT) found in the AirPods 2.