airgapping a MacBook air, a Broadcom15700a2 mystery

In Summary :

First, the device clearly isn't an RF transceiver because it's the wrong type of package for that. You don't build that onto a FCBGA, you'd never get good RF performance (it's a bare chip flipped and soldered onto a substrate PCB which is then soldered to the actual PCB, so matching impedances through each interface would be a headache.) Every RF package will go for die to board bonding, or minimal lead frame, not a large package like this. It's an art to get it to work at all.

It could interface with an external transceiver and antenna, but it's likely those are all contained to the wifi or BT adapter, which has antenna connectors on it. Wireless technology isn't a mystery. Antennas take up space on a board or require RF components like connectors and large antennas. If you don't see any, chances are, there isn't a wireless transceiver on the board.

And, Linux is enumerating this device -- why not try to find out what chip on the PCIe bus is responding before removing it? Removing one of those large ferrites is likely to kill power to it, so it will not enumerate, and it's a whole lot easier than removing the whole chip. [...]

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