Apple Inc. (AAPL): iPhone Teardown Nets Other Winners

Apple Inc.While Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has pretty much reveled in the long lines of people all over the world waiting to get their hands on the highly anticipated (understated here) launch of the iPhone 5, there are those tech people and investors who always look forward to physically touching a new device, breaking it open and trying to determine how many other companies were involved in the making of the device, and which ones are publicly traded companies. After all, presuming the iPhone 5 is a huge hit (analysts predict 10 million units sold by the end of the month), it won’t be just Apple who wins on the bottom line; there are other companies to consider as big winners as well, and thus might be good investment opportunities on the next market trading day.

Thanks to the reliable teardown guys at iFixit, the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone 5 was broken apart and inspected to see what companies ultimately won many of the important component contracts for the device, which is expected to seriously challenge Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. for market share during this holiday shopping season. While no one claimed to notice any surprises in the makeup of the smartphone, there were a couple of still-unresolved items where the contract was between two potential companies and it had not been determined upon initial inspection which company won the contract. But many of the companies that have been involved with past iPhones or iPads are featured in this version.

Three vendors were used for the phone’s power-amplifier modules, just like past Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) smartphones – Skyworks Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:SWKS), Avago Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:AVGO) and TriQuint Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TQNT). Unlike past models, this model had two touchscreen microcontrollers (to handle the larger display), one each from Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:TXN) and B Communications Ltd. (NASDAQ:BCOM).  There was no surprise in the processor, as QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) has been a regular contributor in recent iPhone versions. The last of the highlights comes from Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ:CRUS), which once again handles the audio chips for the phone.

Now that some of the winners are mentioned here – besides Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), of course – this might give some investors an opportunity to look into their portfolios Monday and perhaps look at their holdings in these companies. If someone like hedge-fund manager David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital changes stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) next week, there may be logic behind making the same move in regards to some of these other stocks – as they likely will get hot in the coming weeks.