7 ms·

Chinese engineers cracked Apple's M1 chip and successfully upgrade RAM and SSD

99 points by quyleanh 6y ago

anfilt 6y ago
A little more details on how would be nice.
- cr3ative 6y ago
  What kind of details? It's all pictured really - find the memory or storage chips, replace the chips. It's difficult/impossible without specialised tools, but nice that the OS accepts this modification without throwing a wobbly.
  - anfilt 6y ago
    Its generally a little more than removing the chips with a hot air rework station, and soldering larger ones. I am sure the sizes of the RAM and flash chips is also set in firmware on the main SoC. You would also have to update those values in firmware.
adammunich 6y ago
E waste company
londons_explore 6y ago
So is it just a matter of soldering a new chip on? Or do you also need to flash on hacked firmware?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
walrus01 6y ago
The click bait and advertising in that "news" website is pure cancer
- rubyfan 6y ago
  I left immediately when it showed a fake ‘update your VPN’ iOS system notification. Didn’t even get to read the article.
  - quyleanh 6y ago
    Actually this news is still not confirmed well. There are less tech sites talk about that. And since I use ads blocker, I have no problem with that.
    - rubyfan 6y ago
      that was the odd thing, I use two ad blockers so was surprised to see such an obvious fake ‘VPN notification’ that I knew it was an ad or malware.
88840-8855 6y ago
Apple's macOS hotfix patch for security reasons incoming in 4... 3... 2... 1...
ksec 6y ago
And this remind us the future of Apple Desktop Personal Computing with No upgrade or serviceable parts. Along with insane Mark Up of RAM and Storage. The only good thing is the possibility of a 12" MacBook Air at $799 in the near future.
- ribit 6y ago
  Macs didn't have any user-upgradeable parts since 2016..
  - NovemberWhiskey 6y ago
    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201191 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201191 Isn't "iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020)" actually the current release version you can buy from the Apple Store?
  - ksec 6y ago
    iMac, Mac mini and Mac Pro all have upgradable Memory slot.
dan1234 6y ago
There's not much evidence that any upgrade actually happened. The photo show someone has managed to desolder the RAM & SSD chips, which isn't really news. Also, looks like they only upgrade the 8GB/256SSD to 16G/1TB SSD, which is a supported configuration, so at best this is someone skilled at soldering BGA parts. I'd be more interested if someone had managed to get 32GB RAM working.
- baybal2 6y ago
  > so at best this is someone skilled at soldering BGA parts. It is, but I am afraid the next thing Apple will do now would be to DRM the memory chips. > I'd be more interested if someone had managed to get 32GB RAM working. I believe there is no 16GB LPDDR4 on the market at the moment.
  - meibo 6y ago
    > It is, but I am afraid the next thing Apple will do now would be to DRM the memory chips. They already do that(check the other article on the frontpage), but at they moment, they still give you software to re-DRM it :)
  - ribit 6y ago
    > It is, but I am afraid the next thing Apple will do now would > be to DRM the memory chips. Why "afraid"? I hope you are not considering resoldering BGA chips on tightly integrated machine a viable upgrade path?
    - vladvasiliu 6y ago
      Maybe not GP directly, but this could be a possibility for an "upgrade as a service". I have no idea what the cost of desoldering and resoldering the modules is, but given Apple's markup on RAM and SSD, it might make it worthwhile, just as there are many shops doing repairs on iPhones.
      - robotnikman 6y ago
baybal2 6y ago
> Chinese engineers cracked ... I feel this is becoming the new "British scientists ..." meme
- diegoperini 6y ago
  In Turkey, the national meme is (for unknown reasons) "Scottish scientists...".
  - zongabonga 6y ago
    Scottish? I always hear Switzerlandish.
    - chrisweekly 6y ago
      aka "Swiss" ;)
    - diegoperini 6y ago
      That too. Those words sound similar when translated after all.
- bitwize 6y ago
  Chinese engineers crack iPhone used by Florida Man
jedisct1 6y ago
Original link: https://www.chongdiantou.com/wp/archives/73084.html https://www.chongdiantou.com/wp/archives/73084.html
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
alkonaut 6y ago
Is this a machine translation? It’s really hard to follow some parts. The site is full of clickbait ads and no real info
- limoce 6y ago
  I think it might be translated by Google Translator. I noticed that > Think about the official upgrade of 8GB of memory to 16GB, you need 1500 soft sister coins. "soft sister coins" seems to be RMB (人民币). When I put those Chinese characters into Google Translator, it gives me the phrase "soft sister coin".
- jonplackett 6y ago
  I was particularly amused by this line: > Think about the official upgrade of 8GB of memory to 16GB, you need 1500 soft sister coins.
bilekas 6y ago
> But now someone has cracked the M1 chip, which means that you can upgrade the memory even if you don't pass the official Apple. I'm not sure exactly whats happening with this translation or how the M1 was 'cracked' maybe they mean physically ? I really think they mean physically.
- soneil 6y ago
  It looks like they've dremmelled off the heatspreader, so I think I'd agree with that - cracked like a nut.
squarefoot 6y ago
What I find outrageous is that consumers accept the fact that their expensive new Mac has become a non upgradable black box. Apparently, years of exposure to the dependency from tight closed cellphones did the job. Long gone are the days of the Apple II; I still recall it being labeled as the best possible home computer for being so open to expansion and tinkering.
- Shadonototro 6y ago
  How people expect to, at the same time, having thin, light, fanless laptop, and it being fully upgradeable with replaceable parts i think the people who want that are either delusional, or are just not the target audience looking at the sales, it's probably only just people who like to complain at Apple for doing what they can't do
  - anfilt 6y ago
    the connectors for storage and ram can be very low profile. There is no reason any sane layout with connectors would add to the thickness. Its especially egregious storage is a soldered device. Not just from an upgrade standpoint but data recovery point of view. If some other part fails and basically makes the device a brick there is now no easy way to recover the data.
- Klwohu 6y ago
  I've got this old HP-42s calculator here in front of me, which has no viable upgrade path, and adjusted for inflation it was more expensive than an entry level M1. I have an HP-67 and an HP-97 as well, neither of which has any upgrade path and they each cost half as much as a new economy car when they came out.
  - squarefoot 6y ago
    They were different products for different tasks, and the fact that they can still be used after decades shows how much they're different from a computer, particularly a modern computer. Today not being able to upgrade the RAM or storage, or having a non replaceable battery can mean halving the life of a product, which in today figures would not be like 15 years instead of 30 but rather 2.5 instead of 5.
jonplackett 6y ago
But can you add 32GB ram? Then I'm interested...!
tibbydudeza 6y ago
The pedantic in me will just obsess over the fact that the CPU cover plate is now cut in half and it will now affect heat dissipation and cause crashes.
quyleanh 6y ago
Actually this news is still not confirmed well since there is no evidence. However with all these customized iDevices things from Shenzhen guys, I think it's likely true. Wait for further investigation.
pascoej 6y ago
You can get a recycled 512gb iPhone NAND for ~50USD. You might have to copy the original SYSCFG (containing stuff like mac addresses, calibration, etc) to one of the new NANDs using something like http://www.jcidtech.com/product/product-86-806.html http://www.jcidtech.com/product/product-86-806.html All the iDevices (including laptops since at least T1) use the same NAND packages. Pre-iPhone 8 / T2 devices use a BGA60 package, while NANDs in devices after that use a BGA110 package. For example, the NAND chip found in the iFixit teardown of the 2019 16 inch (TSB4227) is explicitly listed as supported by the programmer linked above: https://i.imgur.com/06a0KEg.jpg https://i.imgur.com/06a0KEg.jpg
killerovsky 6y ago
I think, starting in May, Chinese engineers will be ready to upgrade the M1 to M1X for you for a separate fee and 3 months before the start of official sales. :)
GeekyBear 6y ago
There's a video of a western guy living in China learning to desolder Flash memory chips from an iPhone and then solder higher capacity chips in their place from back in 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHP-OPXK2ig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHP-OPXK2ig Being in Shenzhen China, he was able to buy the needed tools and many broken boards to practice on, and eventually managed to do it on a live board himself.

99 points by quyleanh 6y ago

anfilt 6y ago

A little more details on how would be nice.

cr3ative 6y ago
What kind of details? It's all pictured really - find the memory or storage chips, replace the chips. It's difficult/impossible without specialised tools, but nice that the OS accepts this modification without throwing a wobbly.
- anfilt 6y ago
  Its generally a little more than removing the chips with a hot air rework station, and soldering larger ones. I am sure the sizes of the RAM and flash chips is also set in firmware on the main SoC. You would also have to update those values in firmware.

adammunich 6y ago

E waste company

londons_explore 6y ago

So is it just a matter of soldering a new chip on? Or do you also need to flash on hacked firmware?

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

walrus01 6y ago

The click bait and advertising in that "news" website is pure cancer

rubyfan 6y ago
I left immediately when it showed a fake ‘update your VPN’ iOS system notification. Didn’t even get to read the article.
- quyleanh 6y ago
  Actually this news is still not confirmed well. There are less tech sites talk about that. And since I use ads blocker, I have no problem with that.
  - rubyfan 6y ago
    that was the odd thing, I use two ad blockers so was surprised to see such an obvious fake ‘VPN notification’ that I knew it was an ad or malware.

88840-8855 6y ago

Apple's macOS hotfix patch for security reasons incoming in 4... 3... 2... 1...

ksec 6y ago

And this remind us the future of Apple Desktop Personal Computing with No upgrade or serviceable parts. Along with insane Mark Up of RAM and Storage. The only good thing is the possibility of a 12" MacBook Air at $799 in the near future.

ribit 6y ago
Macs didn't have any user-upgradeable parts since 2016..
- NovemberWhiskey 6y ago
  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201191 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201191 Isn't "iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020)" actually the current release version you can buy from the Apple Store?
- ksec 6y ago
  iMac, Mac mini and Mac Pro all have upgradable Memory slot.

dan1234 6y ago

There's not much evidence that any upgrade actually happened. The photo show someone has managed to desolder the RAM & SSD chips, which isn't really news. Also, looks like they only upgrade the 8GB/256SSD to 16G/1TB SSD, which is a supported configuration, so at best this is someone skilled at soldering BGA parts. I'd be more interested if someone had managed to get 32GB RAM working.

baybal2 6y ago
> so at best this is someone skilled at soldering BGA parts. It is, but I am afraid the next thing Apple will do now would be to DRM the memory chips. > I'd be more interested if someone had managed to get 32GB RAM working. I believe there is no 16GB LPDDR4 on the market at the moment.
- meibo 6y ago
  > It is, but I am afraid the next thing Apple will do now would be to DRM the memory chips. They already do that(check the other article on the frontpage), but at they moment, they still give you software to re-DRM it :)
- ribit 6y ago
  > It is, but I am afraid the next thing Apple will do now would > be to DRM the memory chips. Why "afraid"? I hope you are not considering resoldering BGA chips on tightly integrated machine a viable upgrade path?
  - vladvasiliu 6y ago
    Maybe not GP directly, but this could be a possibility for an "upgrade as a service". I have no idea what the cost of desoldering and resoldering the modules is, but given Apple's markup on RAM and SSD, it might make it worthwhile, just as there are many shops doing repairs on iPhones.
    - robotnikman 6y ago

baybal2 6y ago

> Chinese engineers cracked ... I feel this is becoming the new "British scientists ..." meme

diegoperini 6y ago
In Turkey, the national meme is (for unknown reasons) "Scottish scientists...".
- zongabonga 6y ago
  Scottish? I always hear Switzerlandish.
  - chrisweekly 6y ago
    aka "Swiss" ;)
  - diegoperini 6y ago
    That too. Those words sound similar when translated after all.
bitwize 6y ago
Chinese engineers crack iPhone used by Florida Man

jedisct1 6y ago

Original link: https://www.chongdiantou.com/wp/archives/73084.html https://www.chongdiantou.com/wp/archives/73084.html

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

alkonaut 6y ago

Is this a machine translation? It’s really hard to follow some parts. The site is full of clickbait ads and no real info

limoce 6y ago
I think it might be translated by Google Translator. I noticed that > Think about the official upgrade of 8GB of memory to 16GB, you need 1500 soft sister coins. "soft sister coins" seems to be RMB (人民币). When I put those Chinese characters into Google Translator, it gives me the phrase "soft sister coin".
jonplackett 6y ago
I was particularly amused by this line: > Think about the official upgrade of 8GB of memory to 16GB, you need 1500 soft sister coins.

bilekas 6y ago

> But now someone has cracked the M1 chip, which means that you can upgrade the memory even if you don't pass the official Apple. I'm not sure exactly whats happening with this translation or how the M1 was 'cracked' maybe they mean physically ? I really think they mean physically.

soneil 6y ago
It looks like they've dremmelled off the heatspreader, so I think I'd agree with that - cracked like a nut.

squarefoot 6y ago

What I find outrageous is that consumers accept the fact that their expensive new Mac has become a non upgradable black box. Apparently, years of exposure to the dependency from tight closed cellphones did the job. Long gone are the days of the Apple II; I still recall it being labeled as the best possible home computer for being so open to expansion and tinkering.

Shadonototro 6y ago
How people expect to, at the same time, having thin, light, fanless laptop, and it being fully upgradeable with replaceable parts i think the people who want that are either delusional, or are just not the target audience looking at the sales, it's probably only just people who like to complain at Apple for doing what they can't do
- anfilt 6y ago
  the connectors for storage and ram can be very low profile. There is no reason any sane layout with connectors would add to the thickness. Its especially egregious storage is a soldered device. Not just from an upgrade standpoint but data recovery point of view. If some other part fails and basically makes the device a brick there is now no easy way to recover the data.
Klwohu 6y ago
I've got this old HP-42s calculator here in front of me, which has no viable upgrade path, and adjusted for inflation it was more expensive than an entry level M1. I have an HP-67 and an HP-97 as well, neither of which has any upgrade path and they each cost half as much as a new economy car when they came out.
- squarefoot 6y ago
  They were different products for different tasks, and the fact that they can still be used after decades shows how much they're different from a computer, particularly a modern computer. Today not being able to upgrade the RAM or storage, or having a non replaceable battery can mean halving the life of a product, which in today figures would not be like 15 years instead of 30 but rather 2.5 instead of 5.

jonplackett 6y ago

But can you add 32GB ram? Then I'm interested...!

tibbydudeza 6y ago

The pedantic in me will just obsess over the fact that the CPU cover plate is now cut in half and it will now affect heat dissipation and cause crashes.

quyleanh 6y ago

Actually this news is still not confirmed well since there is no evidence. However with all these customized iDevices things from Shenzhen guys, I think it's likely true. Wait for further investigation.

pascoej 6y ago

You can get a recycled 512gb iPhone NAND for ~50USD. You might have to copy the original SYSCFG (containing stuff like mac addresses, calibration, etc) to one of the new NANDs using something like http://www.jcidtech.com/product/product-86-806.html http://www.jcidtech.com/product/product-86-806.html All the iDevices (including laptops since at least T1) use the same NAND packages. Pre-iPhone 8 / T2 devices use a BGA60 package, while NANDs in devices after that use a BGA110 package. For example, the NAND chip found in the iFixit teardown of the 2019 16 inch (TSB4227) is explicitly listed as supported by the programmer linked above: https://i.imgur.com/06a0KEg.jpg https://i.imgur.com/06a0KEg.jpg

killerovsky 6y ago

I think, starting in May, Chinese engineers will be ready to upgrade the M1 to M1X for you for a separate fee and 3 months before the start of official sales. :)

GeekyBear 6y ago

There's a video of a western guy living in China learning to desolder Flash memory chips from an iPhone and then solder higher capacity chips in their place from back in 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHP-OPXK2ig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHP-OPXK2ig Being in Shenzhen China, he was able to buy the needed tools and many broken boards to practice on, and eventually managed to do it on a live board himself.