Why it matters: This is the first time we’ve publicly seen a prototype iPhone of this nature. It’s a fascinating look into the history of one of the biggest tech launches of our time and highlights the extent that Apple went to keep the design a secret, even from its own engineers. Steve Jobs during a keynote address at the Macworld conference on January 9, 2007, told the audience, “This is a day I’ve been looking forward to for two and a half years.” Moments later, he introduced the world to the iPhone, a device that would help set in motion the mobile revolution. The journey, as Jobs alluded to, began years earlier with an idea that eventually became a project known internally at Apple by the codenames “Purple 2” and “M68.” Neither designation gave much of a hint as to the nature of the project. Nor did early development hardware. The Verge recently managed to get its hands on an early iPhone M68 prototype which, at first glance, looks more like an old motherboard from a late 90s PC than the guts of a mobile phone. Indeed, Apple likely designed the board to be misleading – not surprising, considering many of the engineers that worked on the iPhone wouldn’t know its final design until late in the development process (or perhaps not even until it was unveiled publicly). Upon closer inspection, you’ll notice that the prototype board contains the hardware that would eventually make its way into the iPhone – a SIM card slot, a camera, power and volume buttons, a 30-pin connector and of course, a display. A board of this nature, the publication said, would have been supplied to engineers working on the software and radio portions of the project. All images courtesy The Verge<doc-sep>The Verge has obtained never-before-seen photos of a development board for the original iPhone, providing an interesting look back at the measures Apple took to ensure the smartphone remained as much of a secret as possible. The large circuit board contains nearly all of the original ‌iPhone‌'s components, including its processor, memory, storage, 30-pin dock connector, camera, home button, SIM card slot, and antennas for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. There are also some non-iPhone parts such as two Mini-USB connectors for accessing the baseband. While this particular Engineering Validation Test (EVT) prototype has an ‌iPhone‌ display attached, the report notes that some boards were even supplied without the screen, meaning that many Apple engineers working on the original ‌iPhone‌ back in 2006-2007 had no idea what the handset would eventually look like. The Verge's Tom Warren: If an engineer inside Apple received a development board like this without a screen, component video and RCA connectors on the side of the board could be used to connect it to a display. Engineers could also test headphone connectivity, thanks to stereo line out ports on the side. Even the ‌iPhone‌'s main camera is mounted on the board for testing, and there's a giant space left to test the battery. If engineers didn't have a battery connected, a DC connector at the top can be used for external power. Apple also left room for what is marked as "prox flex" for proximity sensor testing. Nowadays, Apple uses security shields for ‌iPhone‌ prototypes, but this early board is a fascinating look back at Apple's secrecy leading up to Steve Jobs' famous introduction of the ‌iPhone‌. The full article is a worthwhile read.<doc-sep>“This is a day I’ve been looking forward to for two and half years,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s late CEO, as he introduced the original iPhone on January 9th, 2007. Apple had developed the iPhone in secret over those two and a half years, and for many inside the company, the device had only been known by the codenames “M68” and “Purple 2.” Apple was focused on surprising everyone with the iPhone, and that meant that many of the engineers working on the original handset didn’t even know what it would eventually look like. This iPhone prototype looked a lot like a PC To achieve that level of secrecy, Apple created special prototype development boards that contained nearly all of the iPhone’s parts, spread out across a large circuit board. The Verge has obtained exclusive access to the original iPhone M68 prototype board from 2006 / 2007, thanks to Red M Sixty, a source that asked to remain anonymous. It’s the first time this board has been pictured publicly, and it provides a rare historical look at an important part of computing history, showing how Apple developed the original iPhone. At first glance, the red iPhone M68 prototype board looks like a motherboard you’d find inside a PC from more than 10 years ago. It’s roughly the same size, but the components are a little different. Apple developed this particular board, an engineering validation test (EVT) sample, for engineers working primarily on the software and radio portions of the original iPhone. These developers wouldn’t know the final form of the iPhone, and sometimes these boards were even supplied without the screen you’ll see attached in our exclusive photos. Apple only uses red printed circuit boards for its prototype iPhone hardware, favoring blue, green, and other colors for production units. While there’s no giant fan to cool the processor or banks of memory, the prototype does share some similar components to older PC hardware. There’s a serial connector at the top that was used to test iPod accessories since the iPhone also used Apple’s 30-pin connector, and there’s even a LAN port for connectivity. Two Mini USB connectors flank the side of the board, which were used by engineers to access the main iPhone application processor and radio (baseband). Apple engineers could use these Mini USB ports to code for the device without ever seeing the screen. Most of the engineers working with a board like this would have been responsible for porting Apple’s underlying Darwin operating system over to the iPhone. Darwin is a Unix-based operating system that contains a core set of components that help power macOS, iOS, watchOS, tvOS, and audioOS. Apple referred to the developers who worked with Darwin as “Core OS engineers.” They were responsible for the kernel, file systems, device drivers, processor architectures, and a host of other important low-level platform work. These engineers made sure all of the very important hardware and connectivity worked flawlessly. The rest of the iPhone prototype board is very different from a regular PC. At the top, you’ll see a SIM card slot, and nearby, there are two antennas for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. These connect back to the main radio I/O board, which looks identical to how it shipped in the final original iPhone. This radio board includes chips from Intel, Infineon, CSR, Marvell, and Skyworks, showing just how many companies Apple had to partner with to ship the original iPhone. To the right of the radio board, you’ll see an RJ11 port, which is the same registered jack that’s used by regular landline phones. Apple used this so that engineers could plug a regular landline phone headset into this iPhone development board and test voice calls. You might be able to take calls on your wrist these days with the Apple Watch, but imagine the thrill of making a call from a prototype iPhone development board back in 2006. At the center of this prototype board is the heart of the iPhone: Apple’s application processor. Identified as a Samsung K4X1G153PC part, Apple used Samsung memory stacked with a 620MHz ARM processor (ARM1176JZF) to run the iPhone operating system. It’s an integrated circuit packaging method known as package on package (PoP), where the CPU is packaged on the bottom and memory on top. Apple pairs this with a 4GB Samsung NAND card (K9HBG08U1M) for storage of the OS. The green NAND storage module is easily removable for developers, allowing them to quickly test different operating system versions and changes by simply plugging a new card in. Apple engineers could test every part of the original iPhone with this board On this particular development board, there’s even a screen, but the iPhone’s home button (known here as the menu button) is mounted on the board to the left of the display, and the power and volume buttons are on the left-hand side of the board. We got a chance to boot this prototype, and it simply powers up to the Apple logo. Engineers using this particular board would have booted into something similar to a command prompt to test kernel changes. Our source explains that you can also attach this to iTunes, via the 30-pin connector on the side of the board, and it detects it as an iPhone ready to be restored. Elsewhere on this board, you’ll see lots of white connectors with pins. The smaller ones are JTAG connectors used for low-level debugging. Engineers could connect signal probes to some of these connectors to monitor various signals and voltages, allowing developers to test key software changes to the iPhone and make sure they weren’t negatively impacting the hardware. Having all of the components available to test on a blown-out board like this also made it far easier for engineers to make a change and test it, instead of inside a phone shell where you can’t easily access components with probes. There are also a variety of DIP switches to route debug signals around various parts of the board for further testing.<doc-sep>Imagine being an engineer assigned to help develop a device — and you’re not even allowed to see what it is supposed to look like. Secrecy was so important to Apple on its first iPhone, the first prototype was not a handset but a large development board for team members to hook to a display to try out various functions. Tech news site The Verge worked with an anonymous source named Red M Sixty to bring readers a rare look at what it says is an original iPhone development board, a prototype with the code name M68. iPhone development board: A secret history The Verge says this is the first time the red circuit board for the original iPhone has been seen in public. Engineers working on the software and radio portions of the iPhone used the board, according to writer Tom Warren’s source. Apple assigned the red circuit boards without screens. Then the company tasked engineers with porting Apple’s Darwin operating system to the iPhone, which debuted in 2007. “Apple referred to the developers who worked with Darwin as ‘Core OS engineers,'” Warren wrote. “They were responsible for the kernel, file systems, device drivers, processor architectures, and a host of other important low-level platform work. These engineers made sure all of the very important hardware and connectivity worked flawlessly.” And the rest is history. Apple guards its iPhone secrets It seems unlikely Apple would ever make this part of the iPhone development saga public. Even Ken Kocienda, an Apple software engineer and designer for 15 years, said he never glimpsed such a red circuit board. “I saw several different iPhone development board variants in labs and offices here and there, but I don’t remember this particular red flavor,” he he wrote on Twitter in response to The Verge’s story. “Compartmentalized secrecy, etc.” Kocienda said his board was green and came with a separate handheld prototype for the touchscreen. Warren’s story meticulously explains how the board works. (The source allowed him to power it up.) Apple fans, collectors and tech tinkerers surely will enjoy this glimpse into Apple history. These days, Apple still keeps upcoming iPhone designs secret within its walls. However, now it issues smaller circuit boards to its development teams. Source: The Verge<doc-sep>
You wouldn’t think there would be much left to reveal about the original iPhone by now, but it seems there is. The Verge has managed to get access to the original engineering prototype, known as an engineering validation test (EVT) sample of the iPhone from 2006/2007. This is a development device where the components are laid out on a PC-style motherboard, for easy replacement if components need to be substituted, with a bunch of additional connectors for plugging in test equipment … The Verge says that this EVT sample includes the screen, revealing what the iPhone would look like, but some engineers would be given screenless versions – which needed to be connected to a monitor – to maintain secrecy. Apple was focused on surprising everyone with the iPhone, and that meant that many of the engineers working on the original handset didn’t even know what it would eventually look like. To achieve that level of secrecy, Apple created special prototype development boards that contained nearly all of the iPhone’s parts, spread out across a large circuit board. The Verge has obtained exclusive access to the original iPhone M68 prototype board from 2006 / 2007, thanks to Red M Sixty, a source that asked to remain anonymous. It’s the first time this board has been pictured publicly, and it provides a rare historical look at an important part of computing history, showing how Apple developed the original iPhone. The red circuitboard color is used by Apple to denote a prototype rather than a finished version. While all the iPhone components are present, there are many additional ports for use in testing. There’s a serial connector at the top that was used to test iPod accessories since the iPhone also used Apple’s 30-pin connector, and there’s even a LAN port for connectivity. Two Mini USB connectors flank the side of the board, which were used by engineers to access the main iPhone application processor and radio (baseband). Apple engineers could use these Mini USB ports to code for the device without ever seeing the screen […] To the right of the radio board, you’ll see an RJ11 port, which is the same registered jack that’s used by regular landline phones. Apple used this so that engineers could plug a regular landline phone headset into this iPhone development board and test voice calls […] Elsewhere on this board, you’ll see lots of white connectors with pins. The smaller ones are JTAG connectors used for low-level debugging. Engineers could connect signal probes to some of these connectors to monitor various signals and voltages, allowing developers to test key software changes to the iPhone and make sure they weren’t negatively impacting the hardware […] If an engineer inside Apple received a development board like this without a screen, component video and RCA connectors on the side of the board could be used to connect it to a display. Engineers could also test headphone connectivity, thanks to stereo line out ports on the side. This is so cool. It’s so easy to forget Apple shoved an entire computer into a phone, but then you look at these early iPhone prototypes. https://t.co/zb4LGOuWBX — nilay patel (@reckless) March 19, 2019 The full piece, with more photos, is an interesting read. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More. Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news: