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Behold, the sixth generation of iPhone! We shall call it…iPhone 5! Buckle down for the iPhone 5 teardown: the biggest thing to happen to teardowns since teardowns.
—————————————————————————————————————————— Tools： Flathead 3/32" or 2.5 mm Screwdriver Metal Tweezers Phillips #00 Screwdriver Small suction cup Spudger iPhone 4 5-Point Pentalobe Screwdriver ——————————————————————————————————————————
 EditStep 1 — iPhone 5 Teardown
The dawn of another day in the Land Down Under brings us what we've all been waiting for: the new iPhone 5! A big thanks to MacFixit Australia for letting us use their digs in Melbourne for this teardown. They stock Mac and iPhone upgrades/accessories, and also carry our iFixit toolkits.
There won't be any mistaking an iPhone 5 for an iPhone 4 or 4S. A lot has changed on the outside of the iPhone. The most obvious alteration to the bottom of the phone is the exchange of the large 30-pin dock connector for the diminutive Lightning connector. The headphone jack is now on the bottom of the iPhone, right next to the updated speakermicrophone grille—a series of holes rather than a mesh-covered slot. Other notable differences are the slate bezel, as opposed to the stainless steel that wrapped around the 4S, and the chamfered edges between the bezel and the front/rear cases.
Pesky pentalobes! Good thing our 5-Point Drivers still work on them. The unibody back case is reminiscent of theiPhone 3GS, while still retaining the square (though now chamfered) edges of the iPhone 4.
What's this? A suction cup? We haven't needed a suction cup to get into an iPhone since the3GS! Because the iPhone 5 is opened front-to-back, replacing a cracked screen is going to be easier than ever. Thank you, Apple!
The display connector is held firmly to the logic board by a few simple Phillips screws. Our spudger makes quick work of prying up the display connector, and poof! the display is free. We're having iPhone 3GS flashbacks with the easily accessible display assembly. Screen crackers and screen fixers rejoice!
The iPhone 5 ditches its lid to show us all of the juicy bits inside. So, what can we see from here? A bigger battery? Antenna connections? A single speaker? Cameras? Vibrators? Home buttons?
As always, we disconnect the battery first to prevent electrifying anything, including ourselves, as we dig deeper. Three Phillips #00 screws and a metal bracket hold the battery connector to the logic board. In the 3GS, the display assembly was easy to take out, but the battery was a pain. In the 4 and 4S, the display assembly took 38 steps to remove, while the battery was a breeze. We like to think that Apple has started tailoring to our preferences in allowing us to remove both the display assembly and the battery in only a couple of steps.
We use the flat end of a spudger to pry up the battery from some typical adhesive. For the iPhone 5, Apple has switched to a different battery chemistry, with a higher voltage and slightly larger capacity than the iPhone 4S. Let's see how the battery specs stack up. iPhone 5 Battery: 3.8V - 5.45Wh - 1440mAh. Talk time: Up to 8 hours on 3G. Standby time: Up to 225 hours. iPhone 4S Battery: 3.7V - 5.3Wh - 1432mAh. Talk time: Up to 8 hours on 3G. Standby time: Up to 200 hours. Samsung Galaxy S III Battery: 3.8V - 7.98Wh - 2100mAh. Talk time: Up to 11 hours 40 minutes on 3G. Standby time: Up to 790 hours.
On the back of the battery we notice "MFR Sony," and "Cell made in Singapore." A bit ofgoogling and it looks very likely that Sony is manufacturing this battery.
There are all kinds of metal-to-metal contacts inside the iPhone 5. This contact connects the metal frame around the front-facing camera to the frame around the rear-facing camera. Maybe this frame is some kind of an antenna? Only time will tell. Speaking of antennas, a spudger easily pries one end of an antenna connector off of the logic board near the battery.
Near the top of the case, we find a few antenna connectors firmly screwed to the inside of the case. Finally free of its constraints, we lift the logic board up out of the rear case. The logic board and 8 megapixel iSight camera come out together, leaving several components behind in the rear case—another win for modularity.
They said if us tech writers were good and we stayed late, we can have one beverage of choice when we finished the teardown. Then they promptly took the beverages away… …and put them in the fridge!!! We Я happy camperz.
Many of the components that came out with the logic board are held in place with screws and brackets. Before we go any further: A mega thanks to Chipworks for sticking around into the wee hours of the night and helping us identify the packages on the logic board. Their handiwork (along with ours!) can be seen below.
More chips on the underside of the logic board: Qualcomm PM8018 RF power management IC Hynix H2JTDG2MBR 128 Gb (16 GB) NAND flash Apple 338S1131 dialog power management IC* Apple 338S1117 Elpida memory MCP for LTE* STMicroelectronics L3G4200D (AGD5/2235/G8SBI ) low-power three-axis gyroscope—same as seen in the iPhone 4S, iPad 2, and other leading smart phones Murata 339S0171 Wi-Fi module
*Our buddies at Chipworks are making well-informed hypotheses here, and they're pretty good at what they do.
Now for the pièce de résistance: the A6 application processor. The A6 processor is the first Apple System-on-Chip (SoC) to use a custom design, based off the ARMv7 instruction set. Because the A6 is not an ARM-specific CPU design, this gives Apple the ability to tailor the A6 towards their needs. According to Chipworks, the B8164B3PM silkscreen label denotes 1GB Elpida LP DDR2 SDRAM. Yet the infographic presented during Apple's Keynote clearly showed Samsung RAM (K3PE7E700F) in the A6. Not too long ago Apple decided to reduce the number of RAM chip orders from Samsung. Time to invest in Elpida? Or is Samsung lurking in the next phone on the shelf? That's for you to decide.
Did someone ask for a close-up of the Apple 338S1077 Cirrus audio codec? What exactly does an audio codec do? In short, it's a single device that acts as both a digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital converter to properly encode and decode audio in and out signals.
An iPhone with 4G connectivity? It's more likely than you think. We can now confirm that the Qualcomm MDM9615M is the 4G LTE modem powering this new feature. The Qualcomm MDM9615M is a 28 nm LTE (FDD and TDD), HSPA+, EV-DO Rev B, TD-SCMA modem. The MDM9615 allows for multi-spectrums, multi-mode LTE support. It is responsible for transmitting simultaneous voice and data transfer on LTE (provided the carrier has the infrastructure to allow simultaneous voice and data transfer.) We also find the Qualcomm RTR8600 multi-band/mode RF transceiver. The RTR8600 is paired alongside the MDM9615 to support various bands, including 5 UMTS bands, and over 5 LTE and 4 EDGE bands.
Here's a closer look at the Broadcom BCM5976 trackpad controller. Apple used this same chip in the MacBook Air to control the trackpad. Here, it's working together with the Texas Instruments touchscreen controller to take care of touch inputs on the Retina display.
After completely dissecting the logic board, we turn our attention back to the rear case. Not even a healthy heap of adhesive can stand up to our mighty spudger! The Lightning connector assembly, which includes the headphone jack, loudspeaker, and lower microphone, comes out next. It appears that the Wi-Fi antenna is also embedded into the assembly. The iPhone 5 now includes support for 2.4 GHz and 5 Ghz.
The first of three microphones comes out of the iPhone 5 along with the Lightning connector assembly. It is safe to assume that the microphone located at the bottom front of the device is used for voice commands and voice calls. The other two microphones remain in the device, for now, waiting towards the top of the phone.
Further investigation into the Lightning connector shows a neat array of pins and a clip to hold the cable in place. Each pin (shown in the third picture) is springy and copper plated on the end to ensure good conductivity between the Lightning cable and the socket.
Even with several components remaining, the back case is impressively light. Using a high tech, advanced precision scale, we conclude that the entire rear case of the iPhone 5 weighs only slightly more than just the glass rear panel of the 4S.
Pressure contacts on the vibrator motor mean that replacing it doesn't require soldering or prying up small connectors. Unlike the iPhone 4S, which used a linear-oscillating vibrator, Apple has gone back to a rotational motor with a counterweight.
The ear speaker comes out easily with two screws and connects to the display assembly with spring contacts. The speaker in the iPhone 4S was adhered to the fragile power button ribbon cable and required a lot of work to remove. Now it pops right off the display assembly—another hooray for repairability!
Apple's newest iteration of its classic home button sports an integrated metal support bracket, which we hope will greatly strengthen the oft-used switch. Many iPhone 4 and 4S users have experienced the woes of a faulty home button, but haven't been brave enough to attempt the repair. This new design should not only increase longevity, but also make replacing the home button a lot less of a hassle. A side-by-side comparison of the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 display assemblies.
What first appeared to be part of the LCD assembly is easily removed after the turn of a few screws. This plate is likely used for shielding and heat dissipation. The spring contact near the screw suggests that the plate could also be used for grounding.
Based on a user request, we looked into the concerns about "Scuff Gate," the fear that the black coating scuffs off too easily. We found that the side is pretty tough, but the chamfered edge can be susceptible to scuffing, making for a shiny streak on the side. Moral of this story: be careful, or get a case. Or be free like the wind and just don't care.
One of the iPhone 5's biggest selling points was the updated 8 megapixel iSight camera. Although it's hard to see many differences between this camera and last year's model on the outside, Apple made some significant upgrades, including improved low light performance and 40% faster image capture. iPhone 5 camera is on the left. Will your pictures be this good? That depends—will you take the time to snap photos of something besides your dinner?
Apple was very proud of the fact that they are using a sapphire crystal in their new-and-improved camera. Since sapphire is such a hard material, it would be sensible that the outermost element of the camera is made of sapphire. We tried scratching the clear cover with a pair of steel tweezers and the lens remained scratch-free. While this doesn't confirm that the protective cover is made from sapphire crystal, it does mean that it is quite hard and scratch resistant.
We have found them! Just as Apple promised, there are more microphones residing in the top of the device. First, we find the front facing top microphone, presumably for FaceTime and speakerphone capabilities. And on the back? It's starting to look like a triple microphone! The rear-facing microphone, we assume, is for canceling out background noise.
iPhone 5 Repairability: 7 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair) We're quite happy that the glass/display is the first thing that comes off the iPhone 5. The majority of iPhone repairs are due to a shattered front glass. The battery comes out with a bit of prying once the front panel is removed. The iPhone 5 still uses Pentalobe screws on the exterior, making it more difficult to open the device. The front glass, digitizer, and LCD are all one component, thereby increasing cost of repair. Lots of smaller components are soldered to one ribbon cable, increasing the cost of repairing just one component.
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