What’s Under The Bonnet Of Apple’s New iPhone X Other Than Glue

If you drop your brand new $1,800+ iPhone X as many owners have already done, it will cost you at least $489 and up to $850 to get it repaired.

And while they are fixing it you may want to take a peek at what’s under the bonnet.

According to tear down experts iFixit, you will find that the insides are built around a radically redesigned chassis and internal structure.

It appears that Apple has managed to cram in two batteries in an L shape to optimise space. It also has a folded circuit board.

iFixit said the new design was actually more similar to the original iPhone than they expected, and the iPhone has actually come a long way in ten years.

Now it appears that Apple is stepping back to copy a Steve Jobs design for their latest model.

The bad news is that new iPhone X has only managed to attract a repair ability score’ of six out of 10.
One element that stands out is the relative ease with which someone can replace the device’s display and battery.

This is despite the fact that the new device is also full of glue.

To repair the screen, one would have to remove additional components like the rear camera if it ever broke and needed a replacement.

‘Glass on the front and back doubles the likelihood of drop damage—and if the back-glass breaks, you’ll be removing every component and replacing the entire chassis,’ it warns.

Several unlucky purchasers have already been caught on camera dropping and cracking their new handsets.

However, iFixit says that ‘Display and battery repairs remain a priority in the iPhone’s design.’

A cracked display can be replaced without removing the biometric Face ID hardware, it found – meaning repairs should be cheaper and faster.

Repairing just the screen of an iPhone X will set you back $489 but it gets worse.

When Apple assesses your phone for what it calls ‘other damage,’ repair fees could surge as high as $850.

Those repair prices are substantially higher than the cost of repairing an iPhone 8 plus, which doesn’t feature the Samsung made OLED screen of the iPhone X.

Apple says that fees apply if you ‘need to replace your screen due to accidental damage or mishandling.’

WHAT’S INSIDE

1. Logic Board bracket

2. Front casing and screen

3. Earpiece speaker

4. Dual batteries

5. First logic board level

6. Second logic board level

7. Logic board chip cover

8. Taptic Engine

9. Rear facing camera

10. TrueDepth Camera array

11. Component connector

12. Rear camera bracket

13. component connector

14.Lower speaker enclosure

15. Wireless charging coil

16. Top speaker assembly

17. Lightning connector

18. Rear casing glass

19. SIM tray

About Post Author

David Richards

David Richards has been writing about technology for more than 30 years. A former Fleet Street journalist, he wrote the Award Winning Series on the Federated Ships Painters + Dockers Union for the Bulletin that led to a Royal Commission. He is also a Logie Winner for Outstanding Contribution To TV Journalism with a story called The Werribee Affair. In 1997, he built the largest Australian technology media company and prior to that the third largest PR company that became the foundation company for Ogilvy PR. Today he writes about technology and the impact on both business and consumers.