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"Apple CEO Tim Cook has been traveling through China in an apparent attempt to better acquaint himself with the company's suppliers. But there's one company much closer to home that no one from Apple visits, but has touched every iPad, iPhone and Mac that comes out of Apple's partners' factories.\nThat company is Applied Materials, and it's in the business of building tools, not gadgets. Those tools are used by the likes of Intel, Samsung and IBM to help build the chips and displays on most tablets and smartphones, including Apple's. The company estimates that 60% of the chips and displays in every smartphone and tablet are built using its tools.\n\"For the iPad, 67% of the bill of materials comes from our tools,\" Applied Materials' Matt Ceniceros explains. \"So you're the end user. You bought the tablet from Apple. Apple bought it from a web of manufacturers and gets Foxconn to assemble it. Foxconn would buy the chips from our customer. And our customer buys the tools from us.\"\nApplied began as semiconductor equipment company 45 years ago, then branched into displays in the last decade. They also make tools for constructing solar panels. Processors are its bread and butter, though, and the company is currently working on the next big wave of chip technology: 3D, or stacking chips, one above the other, on a microscopic scale.\n\nSEE ALSO: New iPad Teardown: \u2018It\u2019s Really Just a Giant Battery\u2019\nTo help push chip tech forward, the company has several PhDs who \"break science\" on a regular basis, Ceniceros says. For example, he points out Applied Materials did a lot of the heavy lifting in Tri-Gate chip technology, which Intel unveiled last year.\n\"We figured out Tri-Gate,\" he says. \"We enable the industry. We figure out exactly how to go to the next technology node to make the fastest, smallest chip. A customer will say to us, 'We need a chip that can do 22 nanometers, and we need it produced 45,000 times a day, 365 days a year \u2014 can you give me a tool that can do that in my [factory]?'\" (Update: see below)\nCeniceros doesn't mind that Tim Cook or anyone from Apple has never given his company a call. Even though Applied Materials has a hand in every iPad made, they have strong relationships with the companies who craft the individual components of the tablet, and that's plenty to keep them occupied.\n\"They're our customers' customer,\" he says. \"As I understand how they source materials, they put out requirements to a number of vendors, and whoever has the better technology is selected by them. Those companies come into our R&amp;D center in Santa Clara to figure out the next-generation chip architecture.\"\nWhat do you think about the significant, but largely unnoticed role Applied Materials plays in crafting today's consumer technology? Share your thoughts in the comments.\nUpdate: After this story was published, Applied Materials clarified the comments on Intel's Tri-Gate technology: \"Applied Materials helped develop the complex manufacturing processes needed to enable FinFet technology, not the commercialized products from chip manufacturers.\"\nImages courtesy of iFixit\nBONUS: A Tour of Apple's New iPad\n\n\nApple's New iPad: 9 Features That Matter\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1. Retina Display\nThe most touted feature of the new iPad is its ultra-high-resolution \"retina\" display, which clocks in at 2,048 x 1,536 pixels -- a million more pixels than a 1080p HDTV. Thanks to the extra pixels and the iPad's new graphics processor, the screen has 44% better color saturation. The screen's pixels are so small, Apple says it had to change the design of the LCD itself to elevate the pixels above the circuitry to prevent distortion. Apple calls it the best display ever made for a mobile device, and -- from the specs -- it's hard to disagree. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2. A5X Processor\nTo drive those millions of pixels in the retina display with the same fluidity of previous iPads, the new model features an upgraded processor, called the A5X. It's a dual-core processor, though it features quad-core graphics. Full specs aren't known yet, but benchmarks and teardowns revealed the previous A5 chip (found in the iPhone 4S and iPad 2) was a 1GHz processor. The new one is likely somewhere between 1 and 1.5 GHz.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n3. iSight Camera\nApple upgraded the iPad's camera to capture 5-megapixel still pictures and 1080p video (at 30 frames per second), though that's still less than the iPhone 4S's 8MP camera. However, megapixels aren't the most important thing about a camera. The backside-illuminated sensor, large f/2.4 aperture and automatic image stabilization will improve the quality of your photos and videos, especially in low light. However, the front-facing camera got no love, remaining at VGA resolution.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n4. LTE Models\nApple now offers different models of the iPad that can connect to the 4G LTE networks of both AT&amp;T and Verizon. Since the two carriers use different bands for LTE, the models aren't identical, so don't think you'll be able to switch at will. The pricing plans vary, too, but both carriers offer it month-to-month -- no contracts. Either LTE model offers connection to 3G networks when you take your iPad abroad, though -- a feature previously limited to the AT&amp;T version.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n5. Dictation\nThere's no Siri on board the new iPad, but Apple added a dictation option, accessible via a dedicated button on the virtual keyboard. You can use the new dictation feature to send a text message, search the web or write a note. Apple says it'll even work with third-party apps, letting you tweet or post to Facebook just by speaking.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n6. AirPlay Video Streaming at 1080p*\n\nApple upgraded the iPad's ability to use AirPlay streaming -- that is, transmitting video to the Apple TV wirelessly -- to 1080p. That makes complete sense, since the Apple TV just got an upgrade to 1080p. This doesn't appear to be complete mirroring, however, since Apple specifies that \"AirPlay Mirroring\" is only done at 720p (as opposed to \"AirPlay video streaming\"). Both the iPad and the iPad 2 will mirror to the new Apple TV at 1080p resolution over a hard-wire connection.\n*This item was corrected after reviewing Apple's spec sheet in more detail.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n7. Bluetooth 4.0\nUpgrading the iPad to Bluetooth 4.0 is helpful in a number of ways. Thanks to its ability to work with the newer low-power Bluetooth devices, it'll allow accessory manufacturers to build things like keyboards that you won't need to recharge for months or even years. Bluetooth 4.0 will also let the iPad interact with wearable devices like medical sensors, gathering data like heartbeat or blood sugar level and relaying it to medical personnel when needed.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n8. Much Bigger Battery\nAll these great new features -- especially the retina display -- demand more power, yet the new iPad has the exact same battery life as the previous model. That's because it has a brand-new battery, rated at 42.5 watt-hours, almost double the previous model's 25 watt-hours. It appears, though, Apple hasn't had a breakthrough in battery storage, since leaks prior to the event showed the battery is simply physically much larger.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n9. Thicker Design\nBecause of all the new radios, layers and gizmos in the latest iPad, it's actually bigger than before. The new iPad is 0.37 inches thick, or 0.03 inches thicker than the iPad 2, which was 0.34 inches. It's heavier, too: 1.44 pounds to 1.33 before. The bigger design apparently doesn't affect Smart Covers, and it's still smaller than the first iPad, which was 0.5 inches thick and 1.5 pounds. Still, the heftier new iPad is interesting proof that Apple will compromise on design for performance -- albeit only slightly.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/04/02/applied-materials-ipad/>