ipodsets: iFixit Posts Its iPad Air Teardown

Friday, November 1, 2013

iFixit Posts Its iPad Air Teardown

iFixit has posted its teardown of the new Apple iPad Air.

Highlights:
● This iPad Air can be identified by the model number A1475.
● The top edge now sports a dual mic
● Volume is now adjusted by two separate buttons
● The speakers have gone stereo and moved to either side of the Lightning connector
● 3.73 V, 32.9 WHr, two-cell battery
● LG Display model LP097QX2
● Apple APL5698 A7 Processor—a slightly different than the APL0698 in the iPhone 5s
● Elpida F8164A1MD 1 GB LPDDR3 SDRAM
● Qualcomm M9616M LTE Processor with 1 Gb (128 MB) of DRAM
● 1.2-megapixel, 720p FaceTime camera

iPad Air Repairability Score: 2 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair)
● The LCD is easy to remove once the front panel is taken off the iPad.
● The battery is not soldered to the logic board. We'll give it that.
● Just like in previous iPads, the front panel is glued to the rest of the device, greatly increasing the chances of cracking the glass during a repair.
● Gobs, gobs, and goblins of adhesive hold everything in place. This is the most difficult battery removal procedure we've seen in an iPad.
● The LCD has foam sticky tape adhering it to the front panel, increasing chances of it being shattered during disassembly.
● You can't access the front panel's connector until you remove the LCD.

You can check out a few photos below or hit the link for the full teardown.

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