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Teardown suggests the iPhone SE is using the iPhone 8's camera
Apple's next-gen iPhone SE has been torn down to reveal many similarities with the iPhone 8, including the camera.
You can use some iPhone 8 parts inside an iPhone SE
The iPhone SE can use some parts from the iPhone 8, but don't expect to borrow a battery.
iFixit's MacBook Air teardown confirms 0.5mm thicker keyboard
If you've been lucky enough to get your hands on the new MacBook Air, you know that the keyboard really is excellent. Thanks to the scissor mechanism, which replaced the hated butterfly keyboard, the keys are noticeably cushier, with more travel. iFixit took a closer look at those keys in its latest teardown and reports that the height difference is about 0.5 millimeters.
Galaxy S20 Ultra teardown shows what's inside that giant camera bump
Samsung has made much ado of the Galaxy S20 Ultra's enormous camera array, but just what's in there that requires a conspicuous hump on the back of the phone? You don't have to wonder. iFixit has posted a teardown of the range-topping beast, and it's clear Samsung really didn't have much choice. The 108-megapixel primary camera by itself is huge -- the sensor covers twice the surface area of the 12-megapixel unit in the iPhone 11 series. The periscope-like zoom camera, meanwhile, needs a lot of space for its unusual lateral design, including optical image stabilization just for the prism.
Teardown reveals how much hardware Samsung crams into the Galaxy Z Flip
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip lays out a welcome mat for dust and debris. But while the hinge gap is concerning, it is impressive that Samsung was able to fit so many components into a foldable design. iFixit's teardown reveals a stack of two minuscule motherboards and two battery cells crammed into the palm-sized device. And thanks to its modular parts, it's slightly more repairable than Motorola's new foldable Razr.
The Galaxy Z Flip's hinge fibers aren't enough to keep dust out
Samsung made much ado over fiber layers in the Galaxy Z Flip's hinge that are supposed to keep dust and debris from ruining your day, but how effective are they, really? They might not be as effective as you'd like. iFixit has tested the hinge's dust resistance in the early stages of its teardown, and... it's not promising. While it's not surprising that dust would infiltrate other parts of the phone (Samsung explicitly warns the phone isn't dust-resistant), the hinge area was still coated in particles -- enough that they produced a disconcerting crunch when iFixit unfolded the device.
Motorola's foldable Razr is unsurprisingly hard to repair
Motorala's contemporary take on the Razr has been quite publicly panned by testers. CNET, for example, wanted to see if the device could withstand 100,000 folds -- it only made it to the 27,000th fold before it started showing problems (which Motorala has subsequently defended). With foldable smartphones still far from the norm, consumers are understandably wary of making such a sizeable investment in something that's still relatively unpredictable. If it goes wrong, how much of a hassle will it be to repair? And in the case of Motorola's Razr, the answer is "a big one," according to iFixit's recent teardown.
Apple's new Mac Pro is unsurprisingly easy to repair
It won't shock you to hear that Apple's new Mac Pro is easy to upgrade in many ways -- that's the whole point. But how easy it to service beyond the obvious parts? It's mostly easy, according to iFixit. The DIY repair outfit has torn down the Mac Pro, and it's now clear that many components beyond the memory and PCIe cards are trivial to remove and (if you can track down parts) replace, such as the fans. There are even instructions printed on the hardware for some repairs. This is a system designed for pros who may need rapid turnarounds for fixes, and it shows.
Take a look inside the original PlayStation on its 25th anniversary
If you're a gamer of a certain age (cough), you're about to feel very old. Sony released the original PlayStation 25 years ago on December 3rd, 1994, and iFixit has marked the occasion by tearing down the very first, Japan-only model that never officially made it to other countries. To say it's a throwback to another era would be an understatement. It's not just the inclusion of now-quaint technology like a CD-only disc drive, a modest 32-bit MIPS CPU (the base PS4 is roughly 50 times faster), an S-Video port and slots for 128KB memory cards -- the post mortem highlights a fundamentally different approach to electronics design.
iFixit pulls apart the 16-inch MacBook Pro and sees little has changed
After Apple unveiled the 16-inch MacBook Pro last week, iFixit quickly pried off a few keys to give us a look at the return of the scissor switch mechanism, but what about the rest of the laptop? Now they've completed a full teardown of the latest machine and rather unsurprisingly, it has a lot in common with MacBooks Pro of years past.
Surface Pro X teardown reveals one of the most repairable tablets ever
It turns out Microsoft's new Surface Pro X represents a new direction for the company in than just one way. According to DIY heroes iFixit, the device is one of the most repairable tablets on the market currently thanks to a couple of smart design decisions.
AirPods Pro have replaceable components but aren't repairable
Apple's AirPods Pro might sound better, but they're just as non-repairable as the regular AirPods. A teardown of the new buds performed by iFixit confirms that trying to repair them is "both impractical and uneconomical."
Pixel 4 XL teardown reveals remarkably tiny Soli chip
When Google announced the Pixel 4 earlier this month, the company's Sabrina Ellis spent a part of the keynote talking about the work her team invested in making Project Soli into something that could fit inside of a smartphone. It turns out Ellis wasn't overstating things: the radar chip is so small, the repair experts at iFixit had trouble finding it when they recently took apart the Pixel 4 XL.
Microsoft used magnets to make its Surface Laptop 3 more repairable
When Microsoft introduced the Surface Laptop 3 earlier this month, Chief Product Officer Panos Panay casually lifted its top assembly (the part that contains the keyboard) on stage to show that it was designed better than its predecessors. Now, iFixit's teardown has proven that it truly is quite easy to open the device, which could mean not just a more repairable laptop, but an overall better one compared to previous Surface devices.
iFixit tears down Samsung's 'improved' Galaxy Fold
iFixit pulled its first Galaxy Fold teardown after Samsung scrapped the phone's April launch to improve its durability. Now that the foldable has finally reached stores, though, it's ready for take two. The DIY repair site has posted a teardown for the revised Galaxy Fold that reveals both the known innards and, crucially, the additional protections for that folding screen.
Apple's 7th-gen iPad gets bigger but keeps the same size battery
In case you forgot, the iPhone 11 and Apple Watch weren't the only new hardware Apple showed off at its big event a couple of weeks ago, it also upgraded the base iPad line. Now in its seventh generation, the "most popular" iPad that Apple sells has grown from 9.7- to 10.2-inches, ships with iPadOS and added a connector to support the company's still-pricey keyboard add-on. The folks at iFixit attacked the new model with their assortment of tools, and found that despite the new size, inside it's still very similar to the previous model. Unlike the iPhone 11 Pro Max, for example, which made room for a larger battery than ever before, this new iPad has a unit that's the same size as its predecessor at 8,827mAh or 32.9 watt hours, and presumably relies on other tweaks to the hardware and software to achieve its extra hour of estimated battery life.
iFixit's iPhone 11 Pro Max teardown investigates charging rumors
As usual, now that a new iPhone has hit the market, iFixit is pulling it apart an iPhone 11 Pro Max to show you what the insides look like. It's a common annual ritual, and in short order we should have confirmation of the usual things like RAM chips, modem manufacturers and battery capacity.
iFixit teardown takes a look inside the Note 10+ 5G
The Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5G will be available online and in stores tomorrow. Just in time, the folks at iFixit are sharing a peek inside the new device. Most notably, the phone borrows one major design queue from the iPhone, and it won't be super easy to repair.
Teardown shows Apple's latest effort to fix MacBook Pro keyboard
What did Apple mean when it said it changed materials to improve the keyboard on 2019 MacBook Pros? You should now have a better idea. iFixit has torn down the laptop to reveal at least a pair of changes to the butterfly mechanism that might affect reliability. To start, the switch cover now appears to be made from polyamide (aka nylon) instead of polyacetylene -- it's not certain just how this improves the situation, but it's a conspicuous change. There also seem to be changes to the metal dome switch, possibly involving either a new alloy or heat treatment. The added resilience could prevent the switches from breaking or deforming due to wear and tear, heat or other common culprits.
iFixit peeks inside the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL to see what's missing
Now that Google has come back to the midrange phone market, the folks at iFixit have peered inside the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL to see what you do (or don't) get for your money. Just like their more expensive Pixel 3 counterparts, both of these pack Samsung OLED displays, as well as the same rear facing camera. However, expensive hardware items like the Pixel Visual Core chip, wireless charging coils and waterproofing bits aren't in there. If DIY work interests you, some of the changes seem to make these more modular and potentially easier to repair, but for the most part they are what they appear to be, with components and well-established designs that aren't on the bleeding edge of tech, but will work just fine. Whether you're a big fan of headphone jacks, hate smartphone prices that approach or surpass $1,000 or just want to replace a USB-C port without sending your device in for repair, there's something to appreciate about Google's newest phone family.