Phone processor

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Can’t we just swap old phone processors with new ones?

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2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The CPUs are not replaceable like they are on PCs. They get soldered to the circuit board directly rather than fitting into some kind of socket. So taking them off is itself an exercise in circuit board repair.

Even then, PC motherboard CPU sockets vary by generation. AMD supporting the same CPU socket from 2017 to 2021 was downright weird by PC standards, and the socket changing every 2 years or so is common. New memory types, different power demands, and the demands of newer technologies don’t make CPUs pin compatible very long. Even phones have to choose between DDR2, DDR3, DDR4, and other types of RAM, for example.

So the concept holds. The CPU doesn’t come out, and even if it did, the new CPU probably doesn’t fit into the same place onto the same pins.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Someone already mentioned it but expanding on the concept of soldered in parts.
On the surface, people run to “this is so you need to buy a new phone!” But there are actual benefits to it.
Namely size, and durability.

Size, because adding in a slot and mechanism for a processor adds size. Which is exactly what phones are generally trying to avoid.

Durability wise the mechanism and ability to open it up to add something else are more points of failure. Relative to the more likely use case with the average person prioritizing water resistance over the ability to swap processors.

Add on that phone is more likely to have other points of failure before the processor. Why spend time, money, and add downsides just to swap a processor… if people are more likely to replace their phone for a broken screen, or battery fatigue?