The Google Chromecast revolutionized how we stream content to our televisions, transforming any HDMI-capable display into a smart TV.
This compact dongle, no bigger than a USB flash drive, packs impressive technology into its minimalist design.
Today, I will take apart a Chromecast to explore the engineering marvel that enables seamless wireless streaming.
What is Google Chromecast?
As mentioned on Wiki
“Chromecast is a discontinued line of digital media players developed by Google. The devices, designed as small dongles, can play Internet-streamed audio-visual content on a high-definition television or home audio system.
The user can control playback with a mobile device or personal computer through mobile and web apps that can use the Google Cast protocol, or by issuing commands via Google Assistant; later models introduced an interactive user interface and remote control.
Content can be mirrored to video models from the Google Chrome web browser on a personal computer or from the screen of some Android devices.”
In simple words the content flow is like mentioned below
(Internet/Local Device) WIFI –> WIFI SOC (SDIO) –> Linux Processor – HDMI Interface- HDMI TV
Google Chromecast is a media streaming device that plugs directly into your TV’s HDMI port. Unlike traditional streaming devices with complex interfaces, Chromecast uses your smartphone, tablet, or computer as the remote control. It receives streaming instructions over Wi-Fi and pulls content directly from the internet, creating an elegant solution that eliminates the need for dedicated remote controls or complex navigation menus.
The device supports popular streaming services like Netflix, YouTube, Spotify, and Disney+, while also enabling screen mirroring from Android and Chrome browser tabs. Its simplicity and affordability have made it one of the most popular streaming solutions worldwide.
How Chromecast Works
The Chromecast operates on a clever architectural principle. When you press “Cast” on your mobile device, you’re not actually streaming content from your phone to the TV. Instead, your device sends a small instruction packet to the Chromecast, telling it what to stream and from which service. The Chromecast then connects directly to the content source over Wi-Fi, maintaining the stream independently.
This approach offers several advantages: your phone’s battery doesn’t drain from continuous streaming, you can use other apps while content plays, and multiple devices can control the same Chromecast session. The device runs a simplified version of Chrome OS, optimized specifically for media streaming tasks.
Hardware Teardown
The device is a little bigger than the USB pen drive, connects to TV via HDMI port. USB port is also available to power the device and Power ON /OFF button is also accessible from outside.
When you open the enclosure, you can see it has a single PCB. Both side of the PCB we have RF shielding to protect the circuit from external EMI.
To manage head, aluminum sheet is also attached to the enclosure which touches the RF shield and spreads the heat produced while the device is working.
I removed the RF Shield cover to see the chipsets used and to get an idea how the circuit is designed.
In the image below we see the Marvel Processor of the left side near the connector and on the right side we have WIFI SOC which is connected to processor via SDIO. Micro USB is provided for the Power and besides that you can see a power ON/OFF switch as well.
Below image shows the other side of the PCB where you have Flash memory and DDR RAM and associated DC-DC Power supply circuit.
Let me show you some more high-resolution pictures with the part numbers of various chipsets used.
Micron Flash memory 29F16G08CBACA.
Same side of the PCB we have another chip, SAMSUNG K4B4G1646D, 4Gb DDR3 DRAM.
That is majorly all on this side of the PCB.
Let us now look at the other side where we have more interesting CHIPsets.
Processor used is – Marvell DE3005-A1 ARMv7 processor @ 1.0 GHz with OpenGL ES2.0 capable GPU
Not sure which IC is this (shown below), may be some regulator for the processor.
Below is a Power Supply section, you can see two inductors, looks like dual channel DC DC converter MRVL 21AA3, likely Marvell Semiconductor DC-DC regulator
Other major IC on this side of the PCB is Azurewave WIFI chipset.
Azurewave WIFI chipset used is AW-NH387L
So, that’s all in this teardown, I hope you found it interesting and learned something new. I will come back with another interesting blog soon.
I am running an Embedded Design House, CAPUF Embedded Pvt. Ltd, located in Bangalore, India. At CAPUF, we help companies build embedded products end-to-end from concept to mass manufacturable product with our hardware, firmware and software development services.
We help companies who are currently buying product from China, design and manufacture in India. We have helped several companies in past for their products.
We also help in design optimizations for power consumption, cost, mass manufacturing, and performance.