Stating that a device is "designed and made in the USA" doesn't indispensably meant it's going to be a quite American production. Kyle Wiens and his group at iFixit took detached Google's Nexus Q media streamer, and found that the firm sourced a few of the Q's components from China, Japan, and other worldwide suppliers.
This is conform to with what Google told Wired : The device's silicon was sourced from abroad suppliers, but many of its route play and framework pieces are made in America.
Of the Nexus Q's abroad parts, the iFixit guys initial found a NXP Semiconductors 44501 Near-Field Communications Controller, that could be made in Germany, China, United Kingdom, Netherlands, or Singapore. And there's moreover a TXC 8.00 MHz Crystal Quartz Oscillator, made in Taiwan or China.
Other non-U.S., and potentially non-U.S., components add controllers for USB, Ethernet and power management, amid others. All these chips could have been made in various universal locations - iFixit records Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, India, Germany, and the Philippines as probable source countries. It all varies on a chip-by-chip basis.
But all these silicon pieces notwithstanding, Google did pattern Nexus Q in the U.S. and fabricated it all in a plant not far from the company's Mountain View headquarters. The principal components of the device, similar to the Q's two hemisphere pieces, were made in America . Considering the supply sequence of silicon chips, it would be all but unfit to make a 100 percent U.S.-made consumer wiring device in this day and age.
And at least the Q is easy to fix. The spinning architecture tip isn't glued or screwed in to the base, so you can only lift it off with your hands. It took the iFixit group only 6 stairs to obtain to the core of the media streaming device.
iFixit gave the Nexus Q an 8 out of 10 repairability score, indicating that it's amid the easiest gadgets to fix. The Q is candid to disassemble, really few tools are soldered together, and you need only a few tools to take it apart. But there is a drawback: The Nexus Q includes so many individual, firmly full pieces, you may remove some whilst receiving it apart. Lastly, the power supply is unprotected to any person who cracks open the ball. Google even warns: "Risk of electrical shock. Do not open." This creates it a bit more dangerous to repair.
Nexus Q Teardown [ iFixit ]
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