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Apple iPhone charger teardown: quality in a tiny expensive package (2012)

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Resurfaced independently across 3 calendar years, with breakout response in 2 of them.

submissions
3
submitters
3
observed span
2014–2021
peak thread · 273 comments
379 pts
latest 20+ return · 2021-08-03
379 pts

Submission timeline

2007–2026

One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.

First comments on top threads

HN comment order

It's a surprise to see my blog post from nine years ago (!) at the top of Hacker News. Anyone have questions about chargers?

kens·379-point thread·

Power engineer here. Something that is not apparent is that many small power supplies are limited in power handling not by the components, but by maximum safe touch temperatures for meeting regulations (probably around the 10W level). Therefore making a more efficient power supply means that you can package it smaller since the heat needs lower surface area to dissipate safely. Right now, gallium nitride MOSFETs are gaining popularity allowing for higher efficiencies in power conversion, and some wildly high…

The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.

Breakout years
2

100+ points or 50+ comments

Total points
487

reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking

Total comments
344

reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking

Every submission

DateTitle as submittedByPointsComments
2014-10-05Apple iPhone charger teardown: quality in a tiny expensive package (2012)vdfs10
2020-05-03Apple iPhone charger teardown (2012)First breakoutofrzeta10771
2021-08-03Apple iPhone charger teardown: quality in a tiny expensive package (2012)Best thread · Latest 20+ point returnretskrad379273