Interview with Bob Borchers: What the iPhone 16 owes to Munich

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From the outside, Karlstrasse 77 in Munich is a rather inconspicuous-looking, bright, multi-storey office building. No one would guess that inside Apple is working on its "superpowers", which are found in the M4, the H2, the S10 or the A18 – It is not even written on the building that Apple has its European center for chip design here. But Apple doesn't normally expect visitors from outside – was an exception when we met Bob Borchers, Apple's Vice President for Worldwide Product Marketing, for a chat on Monday.

Borchers has been actively involved with the iPhone as part of the team from the very beginning. Some people still remember a Guided Tour for the iPhone 3G, in which the US-American led us through the new functions of the second iPhone generation. He can be found on the Internet under the nickname "iPhone Bob".

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Superpowers from Munich

This Friday, the chip's "superpowers", as Borchers called them, which are largely sourced from Germany and Munich, will once again play a major role, as two improved SoCs, the A18 and the A18 Pro, are found in the new 16-generation iPhones. "Munich is a central component of our Apple Silicon development network," says Borchers. 2,000 engineers from more than 40 countries work here today, although Apple only started to build larger teams there in 2015. In recent years, commitments have been made to invest over two billion euros in research and development work in Munich.

With a view to the iPhone, Apple Watch, Macs and other Apple bestsellers, key parts of the products are contributed to in Munich. This includes power management, for example, which is of great importance for energy efficiency – a point that Apple has recently been advertising more and more clearly in its own silicons. In Munich, work is also carried out on the design of system-on-a-chip (SoC), and chips are tested and verified (Silicon Engineering Productization Team). The work of the mobile technology team is likely to be of great importance for the future, as its results could make Apple less dependent on suppliers in the future.

What happens after 3 nanometers?

In view of the significant progress made by Apple's processors in recent years, external observers are wondering how long this can continue at this pace. Apple has now introduced the second generation of the three-nanometer design in its devices – but what will happen for Apple when miniaturization reaches its physical limits? As expected, Borchers avoids giving a concrete answer and does not mention any specific plans. He says: "It's not just about chasing a single metric or a single quality value, but rather about doing things that offer our customers real added value." As an example, he mentions the use of new process nodes that make it possible to pack more and more transistors into smaller housings. This leads to higher performance. "I think the development of these chips will continue, and quickly, taking advantage of all the technological advances available. There's a lot of opportunity and scope there."

Apple thinks holistically anyway and not just in terms of individual components, he emphasizes. "There are countless ideas that come out of this merging process, but we work very, very hard to select only the best of them so that we can deliver a complete package that our customers feel is fully thought through and does what they expect," he says, referring to the principle attributed to Apple that every yes in the creation process requires 1000 no's. He replies with a laugh: "I haven't counted, so I don't know the exact number, but I think the principle remains the same." In view of the more diverse possibilities that technology offers today, he cannot estimate whether it has remained at 1000 no's or whether there are already far more.

RAM, camera and displays

Specifically relating to the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16, questions revolve around the RAM, the camera and the size of the displays on the Pro devices.

• Regarding the increase in RAM in the iPhone 16 generation to 8 GB RAM, which Apple's head of hardware technology Johny Srouji recently confirmed in an interview, Borchers says that it is difficult to say whether a further increase will be necessary in the future, given that the development of generative language models is still in its infancy. "We think we have a number of features that are great today, but will also be great in the future." In addition, the overall system performance counts. "Memory is one part of it, but then there's also memory bandwidth. Then there's the processor and the processor capabilities. And then there's performance, which also plays a role."

• When enlarging the displays of the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max to 6.3 and 6.9 inches respectively, the company carefully considered that the additional screen should not be made possible at the expense of usability. "You could imagine a scenario where you just keep making them bigger and bigger and bigger, but at some point nobody can realistically use them or hold them in one hand. For us, the big breakthrough here was that we were able to reduce the bezels, to the thinnest bezels of any Apple product ever, while keeping the body size very, very close to previous generations. It was actually this perfect combination where we didn't change the size that people love about the iPhone in their hand, but we were able to give them more display area, which I think is always an advantage. We're always looking for ways to optimize that combination."

• And then, of course, there is the desire of some users for a more magnifying telephoto camera. We ask whether Apple is aware that this desire exists. "We are of course aware that there are many people who want to take the camera experience to a new level in different places," replies Borchers. "However, our aim is to achieve this in a way that retains the quality and features that we think are so important in a camera. It's not just a race to a specification, but it has to be delivered in a way that matches the quality you would expect from an iPhone Pro or Pro Max. That's the bar we will never move away from."

Creator as an important target group

The chances that Apple will think of ways and means to fulfill further wishes relating to the camera and sound are at least not bad. After all, creators are unmistakably one of the focal points of the current Pro devices. "Creators are part of our DNA and part of our customer group, which is really important to us," says Borchers. "When we can expand the camera functions or the audio functions, now with the studio-quality microphones and the ability to mix audio afterwards, or the camera styles or the camera control, we are always amazed at what they do with it. This inspires us to give them more options so that we can unlock their potential."

In the end, the question remains whether Apple sees its billion-euro commitment to the EU, in Munich, and the thousands of jobs in Europe as sufficiently appreciated. Public reaction to the back taxes that Apple has to pay in Ireland at the behest of the EU Commission and to the regulation imposed by the Digital Markets Act (DMA) is divided. At least, some commentators fear that US tech companies could be put off. Borchers is only diplomatic about this: "We have been in Germany for many years and in Europe for many years. We are committed to the region, not only in terms of customers, but also as a place where we can develop amazing technologies and capabilities together. It draws on and involves the local expert community. It helps build the local economy." Munich stands for cutting-edge research, and Karlstrasse 77 and the other locations are a success story. "Hopefully we can continue to tell stories like this in the future."

(mki)