To prove that they invest a lot of time, energy, and money in making sure their phones are ready for launch, Apple showed off their state of the art testing facilities. Apple spend $100 million to create 17 anechoic chambers. These buildings are the largest on the Cupertino campus. These chambers are “designed to stop reflections of either sound or electromagnetic waves”, and this makes for the perfect environment for cell phone testing. “You have to build these rooms or you don’t get accurate results,” Steve Jobs pointed out at today’s press conference regarding the iPhone 4’s antenna problem. The chambers are “connected to sophisticated equipment that simulates cellular base stations, WiFi networks, Bluetooth devices – even GPS satellites” to ensure that all aspects of the phone are tested properly and thoroughly. Apple also said that they have 18 PhD scientists and engineers on hand when it’s testing time.
Apple released three stills of these strikingly designed sound proof rooms; check ’em out in the gallery below. Also head over to Apple’s site to watch a brief video that takes you into some of the chambers and does a great job of describing how they’re utilized.
Update: Apple uploaded the behind-the-scenes video to their YouTube page. I went ahead and embedded it for you; it’s sitting after the break.
Continue reading Check out Apple’s $100 million phone test labs