After live streaming a teardown of the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro earlier this week, iFixit today provided a more in-depth teardown that goes through all of the components in the new devices, revealing several similarities between the two.
Early testing conducted by iFixit shows that the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro displays are interchangeable and can be swapped without issue, though the max brightness level of the two vary slightly. With just the displays and no other internals removed, the devices look almost identical.
Upon removing the camera shield of the iPhone 12, there appears to be a plastic spacer in place of the iPhone 12 Pro's telephoto lens and LiDAR Scanner.
It was confirmed that both the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro feature the same 2,815mAh battery earlier this week, and iFixit was also able to corroborate this. Additionally, iFixit said the batteries of the two devices are interchangeable.
An X-ray courtesy of Creative Electron reveals the nearly identical L-shaped logic board, battery, and circular array of magnets, which introduce MagSafe support, in the two devices. A separate teardown of Apple's MagSafe charger shared by iFixit reveals a simple design with magnets and a charging coil encircling a small circuit board.
The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro earned a repairability score of 6 out of 10. iFixit said that many components are modular and are easy to replace, but the site bemoaned Apple's continued use of proprietary screws, the devices' increases in waterproofing that can complicate repairs, and the increased chance of breakage due to glass on the front and back of the two devices.
Friday October 24, 2025 2:30 pm PDT by Juli Clover
In the fourth iOS 26.1 beta, Apple added a "Tinted" option that reduces the translucency of Liquid Glass for those who prefer a more opaque look. I saw some comments wondering whether the setting might preserve battery life, so I thought I'd do some testing.
Test Settings
I did four separate tests using the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and I kept the parameters as similar as possible. Here are the...
Wednesday October 22, 2025 6:15 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more.
iOS 26.1 is currently in beta testing. The update will likely be released in the first half of November, and it is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer, but some...
Apple Maps could feature integrated ads as soon as next year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.
In his latest "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that Apple's plan to bring more ads to iOS is moving "gaining traction," with the Maps app being next in line. The project will apparently give restaurants and other businesses the option to pay to have their details featured more prominently in...
Friday October 24, 2025 7:18 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
At least some new iPhone models launching next year may support full 5G satellite internet, according to a report this week from The Information.
"Apple plans to add support in upcoming iPhones as early as next year for 5G networks that aren't tethered to Earth's surface, which includes satellites," the report said. "That would give the iPhone full internet access over satellite," it added.
...
Thursday October 23, 2025 3:55 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple is one of several tech companies that will contribute to the construction of U.S. President Donald Trump's 90,000-square-foot ballroom, reports CNN.
Construction began on the ballroom this week, and the White House's east wing was torn down. Trump claims that the ballroom will cost $350 million, and that it will be privately funded through donations. The cost has already increased $150 ...
Apple's upcoming iPhone 18 could feature 50% more memory than its predecessor, according to Korea's The Bell.
With its latest iPhone lineup, the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max feature 12GB of memory. This is a significant increase of 4GB more their predecessors, largely driven by the demands of on-device artificial intelligence processing.
The iPhone 17 is the only new...
Apple's new iPhone lineup launched in the fall of 2027 will be called the "iPhone 20" models, rather than the "iPhone 19," according to research firm Omdia.
Speaking at a conference in Seoul (via ETNews), Omdia Chief Researcher Heo Moo-yeol corroborated rumors that Apple plans to move the launch of its standard iPhone to the first half of the year and provided some additional clarity about...
In July, Apple sued well-known YouTuber Jon Prosser and his acquaintance Michael Ramacciotti over alleged theft of the company's trade secrets, after Prosser leaked some iOS 26 details in videos uploaded to his YouTube channel Front Page Tech. If you are not caught up on the lawsuit, read our initial coverage to learn more.
Earlier this week, Prosser told The Verge he has "been in active...
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the latest rumors about the iPhone Air not selling as well as Apple hoped.
Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos
There have been many recent reports suggesting the iPhone Air has failed to catch on with consumers, with Apple moving to cut production due to lower-than-expected sales. The first warning sign was...
I am not concerned with iFixit’s score. If I have a problem with my iPhone, I go to Apple for the fix. As expensive as Apple is, I don’t trust myself or any third party company to repair Apple devices.
then why is the site "bemoaning" Apple's design decisions? it sounds like they have a business to protect, thats why.
i'd wager consumers would rather have water resistance over repairability as water resistance reduces the need for repairing.
They're not, that's just what the article on Macrumors says and how the writer interpreted it. The actual quote from iFixit is "Increased waterproofing measures complicate some repairs, but make difficult water damage repairs less likely." This doesn't really sound like "bemoaning" to me, it's just the facts.
While it's entirely true that some of the stuff done for waterproofing purposes also makes the phone harder to repair, if you give me a choice between more waterproof and easier to fix, I'll take the waterproofing any day of the week. I'm a lot more likely to get my phone wet than I am to want to get it repaired by someone other than Apple.
In fact, of people I know who've broken a phone, half were due to water damage anyway.
Personally in around 8 years worth of two family members using iPhones, we have had zero repairs done but I've gotten my phone wet plenty of times, and not having to worry about rain or other water made for a real improvement in day-to-day user experience.
making repairs complicated makes it harder for ifixit to stay in business (which they noted the waterproofing point with an orange minus sign next to the final score)
It makes harder to repair it for anybody, not only iFixit. They are just saying what they think and give it their score for the repairability. The score is not changing anything, so I don't get why are you angry at them? They just try to do their best to give you an alternative way to do the repairs.
