Keatah

Apple said specifically the situation is rare enough that it didn't warrant returning to the original sealed Quartz Crystal Oscillator. There's a youtube vid where the guy puts the phone in a baggie and fills it with Helium. The stopwatch speeds up as the oscillator parts physically move shorter and shorter distances till it freezes entirely.

This was discovered while a hospital had a Helium leak during an MRI install. The gas permeated the whole hospital, harmlessly of course, till it got into the phones. 40 types/models of Apple products stopped working. Android products worked just fine.

I also understand it that dirigible crew and some hazmat responders shouldn't use iPhones.

From the physical looks of the MEMS oscillator (SiT1532) it is a significantly smaller part. So the size savings is considerable. But also less accurate. I suppose the accuracy doesn't matter since the timebase is always corrected by GPS referenced against Cesium clocks (or whatever they're using nowadays)..

The electron'scope photos show the part is riddled with access holes for manufacture. It's like an HDD, which has some 10 holes for probes and connectors. They seal those up on the Hard Drives. But not here.

Supposedly the newer oscillators are sealed..?