Apple recently invited CNET journalist Patrick Holland to visit its specialized labs in Cupertino, where the company’s engineers are testing and calibrating the audio and video capabilities of the iPhone 16 smartphones.
Image source: Celso Bulgatti/CNET
One of the places Holland visited was a long-wave anechoic chamber, where the walls, ceiling and floor are covered with special sound-absorbing foam wedges to eliminate the effect of echoes. The facility is being used to test the iPhone 16’s four microphones, which, despite their small size, are designed to deliver professional audio quality.
«The iPhone is such a ubiquitous recording device, used in so many different settings, that we want to make sure our users can capture their memories in their truest form. We have chosen an approach that combines quality and practicality. Within this framework, we have developed a new microphone component that allows us to provide some of the best acoustic performance in a telephone product. At the same time, [we] developed a feature called Audio Mix, which gives users the flexibility to record different sounds, and also gives creative freedom in editing to customize the sound the way you like,” explained in a conversation with a representative of the portal CNET senior director of acoustic technologies at Apple Ruchir Dave.
To test the sound capabilities of its smartphones, Apple uses a complex array of speakers that play bell sounds while the iPhone, mounted on a special stand in the center of an anechoic chamber, rotates, thereby creating a spherical sound profile. This data forms the basis for features such as spatial audio and Audio Mix, which allow users to customize recorded audio to simulate different types of microphones. In select soundproof studios, Apple benchmarks the reproduction of recorded sounds with multiple testers to ensure consistent sound quality from iPhone.
Image source: Celso Bulgatti/CNET
The highlight of the tour was a cinema-sized smartphone video testing lab. This room is where Apple engineers calibrate the display’s performance under different lighting conditions.
Image source: Patrick Holland/CNET
The room features a huge screen that simulates how video looks on iPhone displays, whether viewed in a dark room, office space or bright sunlight.