FP StaffSep 20, 2022 15:22:54 IST
If we just look at the external design the iPhone 14 series and the iPhone 13 series aren’t that different. The only major change is seen in the iPhone 14 Pro and the 14 Pro Max’s implementation of a notch in the form of the Dynamic Island.
Internally, however, Apple has brought a lot of changes to the new iPhone 14 series it seems. Apple made several internal changes to the iPhone 14 which make it a lot easier for repairs, if recent teardown videos from iFixit are anything to go by.
Apple has been notorious for making design choices that make their devices extremely difficult to repair for anyone other than an Apple technician. Without proprietary tools and machines, it is very difficult for most repair shops to open up previous models of the iPhone.
iFixit, which basically is a tools company and one of the biggest supporters of the Right to Repair movement in the US, regularly publishes guides, showing just how easy or difficult a new piece of tech can get for a layman.
In iFixit’s teardown of the iPhone 14, the model has been found to be updated internally, including being able to be disassembled from the front and back. Usually, technicians have to remove the display to gain access to the internals for repairs, but now, the back glass can also be removed in a fairly similar way.
Small win for repair: The iPhone 14 internal redesign gives it a much more repairable/replaceable back glass piecehttps://t.co/kQjqvfvALG pic.twitter.com/opkatXjAIR
— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) September 19, 2022
Apple doesn’t have the best reputation when it comes to enabling repairs. It has begrudgingly started to provide repair manuals and loans out tools to replace parts, but its products continue to be built in a way that can be considered difficult to fix.
In iFixit’s customary teardown of the iPhone 14, the model has been found to be updated internally, including being able to be disassembled from the front and back. Usually, technicians have to remove the display to gain access to the internals for repairs, but now, the back glass can also be removed in a fairly similar way.
After applying heat and pulling the screen off carefully, the view of the inside of the iPhone 14 is blocked by a large metal panel, the midframe, with gaps to allow the camera and select connectors and components to poke through. It is reckoned that the design change should streamline screen repairs as well as protect components inside the iPhone that aren’t usually protected by a metal plate.
Opening the rear glass follows a similar procedure, and again is believed to be a massive change on Apple’s part. The back glass is the hardest element to remove from an iPhone normally, and costs users thousands of rupees.
The decision is a big departure for Apple, as it previously allowed access via the display since it covers both display and battery replacements, two common repair tasks. By allowing the rear glass to be taken out for general rear access to components bar the display itself, Apple removes major hurdles for fixing the back glass, if it happens to be damaged.
iFixit also praised how Apple was able to improve the rigidity and the strength of the device without hindering access to some of its internal components.
