iPhone 15 Pro Max Teardown: X70 Modem for Faster 5G, 5x Optical Zoom Lens, A17 Pro Chip, and More

Repair website iFixit today shared a video teardown of the new iPhone 15 Pro Max, providing a closer look inside the top-of-the-line device.

iPhone 15 Pro Cameras
While the iPhone 15 Pro Max has a similar internal design as the iPhone 14 Pro Max, the device has a redesigned frame that allows the back glass panel to be easily removed, resulting in lower repair fees for cracked glass for customers without AppleCare+ coverage. This change was first made to the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus last year.

The teardown provides a brief glimpse at the iPhone 15 Pro Max's upgraded Telephoto lens with a tetraprism system, which enables 5x optical zoom. iFixit said the Main and Ultra Wide lenses on the device appear to look the same as the ones on the iPhone 14 Pro Max, in line with information shared on social media last week. This suggests camera improvements beyond 5x optical zoom are the result of the A17 Pro chip and software optimizations.


iFixit says the iPhone 15 Pro Max has a similar logic board as the iPhone 15 Pro. In addition to the A17 Pro chip, the teardown confirms that the device is equipped with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X70 modem, which reportedly enables faster 5G speeds as expected.

Overall, iFixit gave the iPhone 15 Pro Max a low repairability score of 4/10, in part due to Apple's parts pairing requirement that it says harms independent repair shops.

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Top Rated Comments

josselinco Avatar
15 months ago
As someone who upgrades fairly often (every other generation) this year I get to have : Always-On, Dynamic Island, 48MP, Satellite thing, Action Button, USB-C, and this Natural Titanium look that I personally find gorgeous. Not too bad for "incremental changes" ;-)
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jamdex Avatar
15 months ago

We've reached peak iPhone. Incremental changes from here on out.
Its been like that for years
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MrSkoTA Avatar
15 months ago
I wish a new company would come along to do this stuff (teardowns) and leave out all of their opinion and politics. I don’t like when Apple injects their politics or when anyone else does. Just give me the tech facts!
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Dolmio Avatar
15 months ago

anyone notice a difference with the X70? ill be getting a 15 soon but I have a 13 pro max now and am just hoping for better cellular connection. reception in my town sucks but I see some other android people getting better signal than i
I had a 12 pro max with the x55 and now the 15 pro max with the x70 and there is noticeably much better reception and also download speed . I appreciate you had the x60 so can’t comment on that but between the x55 and x70 there is a significant difference
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jarman92 Avatar
15 months ago
What is going on at iFixit? They used to release detailed, text-based iPhone teardown with high-res images on release day every year. Now, they take 4 days to release a perfunctory video with brief flashes of the actual device and far too much "clever" commentary from that bald guy.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sammy in SoCal Avatar
15 months ago

Go outside. Leave your phone in your house or in a bag. Live life. These devices seem to be ruling too many of you still. Excitement should have evaporated by now. You don't need to buy the newest device anymore. One day you'll look back and you won't even remember what number iPhone you had when you missed out on something great.
Where would we be without your wisdom?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)