First Look Inside iPhone 13 Reveals Revamped TrueDepth System, Smaller Taptic Engine, and Larger Battery

New images offering us our first real-world look inside the new iPhone 13 have revealed a smaller Taptic Engine, a larger battery, and revamped components of the TrueDepth camera system.

iphone 13 mini teardown
The ‌iPhone‌ 13 lineup will start arriving at customers on Friday, a week after pre-orders went live. While a more professional teardown of the device will be shared online in the coming days and weeks, occasional leaker Sonny Dickson has shared on Twitter images that offers us our first look inside of the ‌iPhone‌ 13.

According to the images, which are likely to depict an ‌iPhone‌ 13 or ‌iPhone‌ 13 mini, Apple has made the Taptic Engine smaller on this year's ‌iPhone‌ compared to the ‌iPhone‌ 12. The size reduction was likely part of Apple's effort to free up internal space to make room for a larger battery. Apple boasts that the iPhone 13 has significantly improved battery life compared to last year's ‌iPhone‌ due to the efficiency of the A15 Bionic chip and a physically larger battery, which the images confirm.

iphone 13 internal images notch
With the ‌iPhone‌ 13, Apple has made the notch 20% smaller after years of remaining the same size. To have achieved the smaller notch, the images highlight that Apple had to move the front-facing camera to the left side of the TrueDepth camera system while moving the dot projector and infrared camera to the right side. The images also show the earpiece moved to the top bezel, further enabling a smaller notch.

While there are likely other internal changes, we'll have to wait for a more professional teardown of the device, such as those done annually by iFixit, to learn more. For comparison, check out the teardown of last year's iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro.

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Top Rated Comments

xpxp2002 Avatar
50 months ago
That’s concerning that they’ve shrunk the Taptic Engine again after last year’s shrink. I’m really hoping this doesn’t affect the strength.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Shanghaichica Avatar
50 months ago

Not a big fan of the smaller Taptic Engine. You could tell that vibrations were weaker on the iPhone 12.
It’s all been going downhill since they got rid of 3D Touch.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dantracht Avatar
50 months ago
You had me at larger battery.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
alisalem Avatar
50 months ago
Not a big fan of the smaller Taptic Engine. You could tell that vibrations were weaker on the iPhone 12.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lleial Avatar
50 months ago
I'm looking forward to the tear-down of the iPhone 13 Pro Max. That's the one that's interesting, specially for its battery!
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lleial Avatar
50 months ago

I remember those days when people said one of the reasons the iPhone would fail is because it didn’t have a removable battery. Lol.
I was heavily criticized when purchasing my iPhone 7 for not having the 3.5mm audio jack; now look at everyone! People talk crap without even knowing where the market is heading. As you mentioned, now all flagship phones have a non-removable battery, but we only b***h at Apple when they push forward with change.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)