Astro Hacker News - Apple's Dimensional Drawings

JeremyHerrman |next [-]

Seems like this URL has only been live (at least first archived [0]) around May 2026, originally with only 13 products. Great to see them add more since then, now close to 90.

0: https://web.archive.org/web/20260512182718/https://developer...

thechao |next |previous [-]

I wish overhead (cut away to passenger layout) and side scale drawings of all cars existed. That way you could directly compare the vehicles. You'd think such information would be needed (in the U.S.) by the NTSB; and, thus, be freely available.

barbacoa |next |previous [-]

What's ironic is that Apple does all their mechanical CAD work for their products in Siemens NX running in Windows VMs.

leohonexus |root |parent |next [-]

I understand the need for it to be in Siemens NX, but do they really run it in Windows VMs? As far as I know NX isn't certified to run in VMs without Nvidia GPU passthrough (aka Macs). It seems more sensible to maintain a fleet of Windows desktops specifically for CAD and industrial control.

brcmthrowaway |root |parent |previous [-]

This is insane. Is there no great first party CAD solution on Mac?

MBCook |next |previous [-]

I had no idea they published this to the general public.

darknavi |root |parent |next [-]

A huge ecosystem of third party accessories, cases, skins, etc.

The openness is easily worth it.

eloisius |root |parent |next [-]

I always imagined shops in China got out the calipers and made measurements from scratch every time a new iPhone was released. Never knew Apple made it this easy to manufacture Minion iPhone cases

SoftTalker |root |parent [-]

Commoditize your complements. Wide choice and availability of accessories benefits hardware sales.

MBCook |root |parent |previous [-]

That’s obviously the people who are really using it, but I assumed you had to pay Apple to get it.

So either you made your own measurements or if you were doing Made For iPhone and they would give it to you as part of that program which surely you must have to pay for.

gertlex |root |parent |next [-]

I assume there's NDAs in place with some vendors pre-release, since my understanding is some accessory vendors get the needed info before new models are released, so they can spin up their lines and have accessories ready to go when the new model hits the market.

(but I could be wrong; NDAs w/China? no idea what the time between announced/released/shipped is typically; I last bought Apple product in 2009...)

p0ckets |root |parent |previous [-]

Commoditize Your Complement - Apple wants accessories to be cheap.

You might want to pay for the Made For iPhone certification for some things, but I doubt most cases have it.

enoch2090 |root |parent |next |previous [-]

For accessory manufacturers?

nish__ |root |parent |previous [-]

It's so we can make cases.

mrcwinn |next |previous [-]

Even the drawing of the Vision Pro feels heavy.

sysguest |previous [-]

idk maybe apple can release fbx or blender files?

I mean these seem nice for print-decorations...