iFixit Shares Full iPhone 12 and 12 Pro Teardown Revealing Interchangeable Displays and Batteries - MacRumors
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iFixit Shares Full iPhone 12 and 12 Pro Teardown Revealing Interchangeable Displays and Batteries

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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.

iFixit iPhone 12 Teardown 3 e1603569775867
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.

iFixit iPhone 12 Teardown 2 Scaled
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.

iFixit iPhone 12 Teardown
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.

Tags: iFixit, Teardown
Related Forum: iPhone

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Top Rated Comments

M
Martius
72 months ago

so ifixit wants your phone to not be water resistant simply because they need the business. got it.

ifixit can goto hell.
No, they are just saying it complicates repairs, which is true.
Score: 58 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple_Robert Avatar
Apple_Robert
72 months ago
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.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
traveltoromantis Avatar
traveltoromantis
72 months ago

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.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
N
nikusak
72 months ago
score of 6 out of 10
...which is a better score than pretty much anything else out there. Look at Samsung, Huawei etc scores.

If you need to get the battery replaced, just take it to authorised service instead buying the kit from iFixit.

Authorised service is only slightly more expensive than doing it by yourself and risking breaking it.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
M
Makosuke
72 months ago
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.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
M
Martius
72 months ago

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.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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