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iFixit Tears Down the iPhone 5 As It Goes On Sale in Australia

Thursday September 20, 2012 4:27 pm PDT by Jordan Golson
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The iPhone 5 is already on sale in Australia where, because of time zones, it's already tomorrow. iFixit has sent a technician to an Down Under Apple Store so the site can be one of the first worldwide to tear down the iPhone 5.
iFixit co-founder Luke Soules trekked halfway around the world to Melbourne, Australia to be one of the first to receive the iPhone 5. Then, he flew like the wind back to MacFixit Australia's office and started taking apart our unit. The process is now well underway.
iFixit will be updating their their tear down on the fly, and we will be updating our post as they update theirs.

The iPhone 5 continues to use the 5-point pentalobe screw that Apple began using in the iPhone 4, requiring a special screwdriver to take apart the device.

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Ars Technica's Chris Foresman points out that the battery in the iPhone 5 has practically the same capacity as the battery from the iPhone 4S, going from 5.3Whr @ 3.7V to 5.45Whr @ 3.8V, or 1432 mAh to 1434 mAh.

iFixit notes that "Apple is very concerned with making sure that all the connectors are firmly seated and won't rattle lose over time." The teardown has reached the logic board, exposing Apple's proprietary A6 processor.

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The Lightning connector assembly, which includes the headphone jack and loudspeaker, comes out next.

It seems inevitable that Apple was going to switch its charging source eventually. There's no way they could have crammed a 30-pin dock connector into this assembly.
iFixit also wonders about the iPhone 5's vibration motor. They say that the 4S used a linear-oscillating vibrator and for the 5, Apple has returned to a rotational motor with a counterweight. The linear-oscillating vibrator is "quieter and less annoying" and iFixit is "scratching our heads as to why" Apple reverted to the less elegant design.

[ 145 comments ]


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Macshroomer
87 months ago
Did they find a Google Maps app hidden in there somewhere?
Rating: 39 Votes
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Caliber26
87 months ago
Anyone replying to this post, cares.

So don't even come on here asking "who cares?"...

...YOU (https://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=15774454&postcount=7) do.
Rating: 20 Votes
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Bathplug
87 months ago
Screens off already and so are my pants.
Rating: 12 Votes
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Chuck-Norris
87 months ago
ARGGGGG UPS still has my iphone 5 hostage! :mad:
Rating: 11 Votes
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FuNGi
87 months ago
MR: you should think about rewriting the first paragraph of this story.
Rating: 10 Votes
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burgundyyears
87 months ago

iFixIt discovered that the Iphone changed it's VIBRATIONS OSCILLATOR ! How am I ever going to live......

....Hey FEDex guy....screw this....I'll refuse delivery tomorrow ! I want the "new" old oscillator back.


It's Vibratorgate! The sexiest Apple scandal yet!
Rating: 10 Votes
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lilpete
87 months ago

Love that line! Reminds me of a quote from Charles Schulz (creator of the Peanuts comic strip):

"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia."


It's funny cos from here, you guys are still living in yesterday :D
Rating: 9 Votes
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iMikeT
87 months ago
Just what I've been waiting for! Time to sit back and relax with some popcorn. :cool:
Rating: 9 Votes
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faroZ06
87 months ago

Why are you so worked up about what kind of a vibration motor it has?
Centainly no reason to refuse delivery. At least keep it and sell it on Ebay or Craigslist.


How come the rate of understanding sarcasm on MacRumors is like 40%?
Rating: 8 Votes
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cvaldes
87 months ago

Here's a rather clear case of hardware specs not mattering. I couldn't care less about the battery capacity as measure in mAh. I DO care about battery life. Real world.

If Apple is able to squeeze the same or more life out of the same capacity battery - good.

Stop being so logical!

Many of the people who visit this site do not appreciate folks who actually have a grip on reality.

As a matter of fact, they might make up the majority. If you start injecting too much reason into commentary here, MacRumors might see a drop in pageviews.

A lot of people here would prefer to live in their own effing dreamworld.
Rating: 8 Votes

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