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Teardowns |
Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini Teardown
It’s like the Galaxy S5, but mini. Quick subtraction shows that the Galaxy S5 Mini shaved off 10.9 mm in height and 7.2 mm in width, but added 1.2 mm in thickness when compared to its larger brother.
The Mini wasn’t just scaled down on the outside; the screen resolution, processor, RAM, and battery capacity all take a hit. But the question remains: does this minor change in size make a major difference in repairability?
Given its similar-but-smaller internal design compared with the big-brother S5, our European-sourced Galaxy S5 Mini scored the same 5 out of 10 on repairability. Yet, because this phone came from outside of the U.S., we saw a significant change in who provided the circuitry — instead of Qualcomm dominating the communications/power field, we saw some of the more international players, including TriQuint, R2 Semi, and Samsung’s own Shannon brand.
Teardown highlights:
The Galaxy S5 Mini's easily replaceable lithium-ion battery is rated at 2100 mAh, 3.85 V, and 8.09 Wh. That's a 25% decrease in capacity from the Galaxy S5's 2800 mAh battery — but then again, the iPhone 5S's diminutive battery clocks in at just 1440 mAh.
On the back of the display, with the home button still attached, we find a few points of interest:
- Cypress CYTMA545 TrueTouch Multi-Touch All-Points touchscreen controller
- 1200T E45H2 finger scanner controller
- Samsung-manufactured display assembly that’s labeled AMS447BS01
Image with zoom.What sort of chips can we find on this bite-sized motherboard? Let's check 'em out:
- Samsung K3QF5F50MM 1.5 GB DRAM, with the 1.4 GHz quad-core Exynos 3 Quad layered underneath. We hear the base band modem is also integrated into the apps processor, a first for a Galaxy phone sold outside of Korea.
- Toshiba THGBMBG7D2KBAIL 16 GB NAND Flash
- TriQuint TQP9059S Power Amplifier Module
- Broadcom BCM4334 Dual-Band 802.11n Wi-Fi/BT 4.0 +HS/FM Receiver Combo Chip
- Shannon 889 N7FT4AMZ Samsung-developed RFIC Transmitter/Receiver
- Broadcom BCM475201UB Integrated Multi-Constellation GNSS Receiver
- Wolfson Microelectronics WM1811AE Multi-Channel Audio Hub CODEC
- InvenSense M651M 6-Axis Accelerometer + Gyro
- 03418 01965 S3FWRN S41801 (the traces for this IC lead to the heart rate sensor, potentially making this the Biosensor Controller)