The simple tears on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro indicate Apple’s changes in the design of the models in line with 5G support, as well as how similar the two models are internal.
Apple’s latest iPhone models started coming out to consumers on Friday, so the device’s first tear videos started appearing long before the release. IFixit suggests that in the first complete disassembly of the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro, there will be some changes in the design of the iPhone 11 generation to add 5G functionality.
There will be no major change in the early stages of accessing the teardown in 2020, which will be used to open the display with Pentalob screwdrivers, suction cups, picks, and heat. Instead of the usual left side opening from the iPhone 7, the iPhone 12 opens from the right side.
Until the camera shield is removed, there are no indications that looking at the non-pro and pro models at once is better than the other. The iPhone 12 Pro seems to be built in the same way that Apple used the plastic spacer on the iPhone 12 Pro, while the iPhone 12 Pro has a third camera and lidar sensor.
Another change in 2020 is that the positions of the SIM tray, logic board, and battery will be rotated, which is assumed to be due to the large Logic board housing Qualcomm’s 5G chips. The Apple AZ14 includes micron memory, Samsung flash storage, Qualcomm’s 5G, LTE transceiver, Qualcomm’s 5G modem, Apple’s U1 chip, power management controller, Avago power amplifier, and integrated duplexer.
For 5G to work properly, smartphones have been found to have embedded MM wave antenna modules on the frame side and on the back of the logic board.
For other parts, Apple found that the speakers were replaced with Phillips screws and glossy orange rubber bands instead of glue. MagSafe charging ranges use 18 magnets to align the coils with the charger, using the polarity of the magnets to “extend the effective placement of the phone” while maintaining proper alignment.
In a nutshell, iFixit indicates that Apple has made some serious design compromises to add 5G components, such as an L-shaped battery and a small logic board. The “death of a thousand wounds” or the discounts offered by Apple treat iPhones as “minimal inventions”.
IFixit gave the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 a 6 out of 10 “Reparability Score”. Although the use of modular components and screws is a priority in display and battery replacement installation, adhesive and increased waterproofing procedures “complicate some repairs”, but all components need to be removed from the replacement device behind the broken glass.
