Open smartphone
The assembly extreme. Almost every line is commodity silicon — the lesson is what NOT to design.
A phone is where reuse maxes out. Pine64 publishes the schematics; nearly every part is a sealed, solved module you assemble. The descent here teaches the Group-C lesson directly: most of this is zero-NRE assembly, and paying to redesign it is a category error.
Exploded
Decompose the product into its stack. Each layer is colour-coded by what it is to the next build.
Bill of materials
Every part is a real, sourced component from the open baseline — no invented part numbers.
Mobile app processor — refreshes on a generation clock. Reuse the current one.
https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_Pro →Density point refreshes each generation. Reuse.
https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_Pro →A sealed vendor module behind closed firmware — you reuse it, and you would not want to design (or recertify) one. The classic un-paveable part.
https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PineModems →Commodity combo module. Reuse.
https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_Pro →The one slice worth touching: fold the PMIC together with an always-on neuromorphic sensor hub, so the A72 cores sleep through wake-word, motion, and context. The energy island.
https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_Pro →Commodity panel. Reuse.
https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_Pro →Standard image sensors. Reuse.
https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_Pro →Commodity removable cell. Reuse.
https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_Pro →The slice openWafer designs
A smartphone is the assembly extreme: eight of these nine lines are commodity silicon you reuse without a second thought — even the cellular modem is a sealed vendor module you would never reopen. The lesson is what not to design, not what to. The one slice worth touching is the energy island: fold the PMIC together with an always-on neuromorphic sensor hub so the application cores sleep through wake-word, motion, and context. Pay NRE to redesign a phone and you have misunderstood the system — this is the case that turns every Group A and B into Group C.