LONDON — European component suppliers are well represented in Apple's iPhone according to the first teardown of the smartphone conducted by EE Times and its partner Semiconductor Insights.

Wolfson Microelectronics, CSR plc, ST Microelectronics and German groups Infineon Technologies and Balda have sockets in the phone, approximately 3 million of which were released in the U.S. on June 29th.

Amongst the surprisingly many Apple branded components in the phone, including the Samsung processor — a three stacked die package containing an S5L8900 and two 512Mbit SRAM dice — are two from Infneon, the PMB8876 S-Gold 2 multimedia engine with EDGE functionality that provides the iPhone's baseband and another device that appears to be the GSM RF transceiver.

There is a also a multi-chip package with STMicroelectronics die marking whose function Semiconductor Insights' technical marketing manager, Greg Quirk, said was difficult to determine.

German company Balda scored the design win with the touch screen. "Balda is known for making touch screen that are durable and scratch resistant, a common complaint of the screen in iPods," said Quirk. According to Quirk, Balda has worked with Nokia, Motorola and Sony-Ericsson, but this is their most visible design, which should enhance their visibility.

"What is also interesting are the components that are similar between the iPhone and some of the latest iPod models," added Quirk. "Apple is taking what they learned, and redesigning it into their phone. This surely made the design process easier for them, as they are familiar with the components and how to implement them."

Thus, the audio codec is the Wolfson WM8758, the same as that used in the iPod video, "making the sound quality similar to what you experience from your iPod," said Quirk.

And Bluetooth connectivity comes courtesy of CSR's BlueCore 4 ROM.