How smartphones are made
Inside a phone, a barometer, gyroscope, accelerometer and magnetometer ride on the same board as the processor.
- stations
- 6
- things upstream
- 94
- raw sources
- 30
- steps from the ground
- 10
The short version
A smartphone is assembled around a printed circuit board carrying the processor, memory and sensors. A glass touchscreen display and a lithium-ion battery attach to a metal or plastic frame. Camera modules, antennas and buttons go in, the case is closed, and software is loaded and tested before packing.
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Populate the main board
Machines place the processor, memory chips and many tiny parts on the main board, and a reflow oven solders them all in one pass.
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Add the sensors and camera
Accelerometers, gyroscopes, barometers and magnetometers sit on the board or on small modules, along with a CMOS image sensor behind the camera lens.
Goes in -
Bond the display stack
The screen panel, a capacitive touch layer and the cover glass are glued into one stack.
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Seat the battery
A flat lithium-ion polymer pouch cell goes into the case beside the board.
Goes in -
Close the frame
The board, battery and display are fixed into a frame, and the back is sealed.
Goes in -
Load software and test
Operating software is loaded and the phone runs through automated checks of screen, radios, camera and buttons before it is boxed.
Worth repeating
- In 2019 alone, 1.54 billion smartphones were shipped worldwide.
- As of 2020, 75.05% of the world's population were smartphone users.
- Capacitive multi-touch screens, rather than physical keyboards, became standard after the iPhone's popularity in the late 2000s.
Back to the ground
Follow every input upstream and smartphone starts as these 30 raw sources.
Everything it is made of See it on the map
Open the whole family tree
Keep walking
Sources
Cite this page: "How smartphones are made." Assembly Line, 2026-11-03. https://assemblyline.org/make/smartphone