iFixit's iPhone 16 and 16 Plus teardown.
iFixit has published teardown renders for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro, along with their larger cousins the Plus and Pro Max.
The videos are essentially marketing for iFixit's various repair kits and other tools and products you can buy (and sometimes these videos now include long plugs for some new product), but nevertheless the videos almost always contain interesting insights about the components of devices.
When taking the iPhone 16 apart, iFixit confirmed one thing we already suspected: one of the mmWave antennas was removed and replaced in the same spot with the Camera Control button. It also found that the camera systems in the 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max are almost interchangeable, but unfortunately not due to the placement of a single screw and the length of a single cable. Shame.
The teardown process for the Pro phones is largely the same as before, but thankfully there has been a new design that reduces the risk of damage to the OLED panel when the phone is taken down.
The biggest discovery was that the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus have a superior battery replacement process compared to previous phones. Instead of pull tabs, they use an adhesive that comes loose under the influence of electric current.
iFixit says this is one of the easiest battery removal processes in the industry, which deserves a lot of credit, especially when it's aimed at a company with a troubled track record on that front.
iFixit's iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max teardown.
Unfortunately, the 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max have not switched to the new battery replacement process found in the 16 and 16 Plus. On the other hand, the USB-C port is much easier to maintain than before, although Apple doesn't sell that part separately.
iFixit gave all new iPhones a repairability score of 7 out of 10, which is historically high for an iPhone.
The videos go into much more detail, so check them out.
List image by iFixit
