iFixit awards iPhone 16 its highest repairability score ever

The score, which is provisional pending Apple’s launch of components, is predicated on what iFixit identifies as three major changes. As famous in an earlier teardown, rumors of Apple encasing the iPhone 16 Professional battery in onerous metal case have confirmed to be true.

“Exhausting cell batteries as a substitute of sentimental pouch batteries will not get by accident punctured by a slip of a screwdriver, and they also’re approach much less more likely to catch hearth,” iFixit famous on its weblog, enormously lowering the danger of battery harm. The corporate additionally praised Apple’s change to a brand new adhesive that secures that battery, which may now be debonded when one passes an small electrical present by way of it.

The third issue famous was the growth of the power to disassemble the iPhone both from the entrance or again, growing the benefit of attending to the particular elements that want repairing. This function really debuted on the bottom mannequin iPhone 14, however it has now come to the iPhone 16’s Professional fashions as effectively.

The iFixit weblog referred to those modifications as “massive leaps for repairkind,” which allowed for a extra constant and easily-repeatable restore course of. Apple’s personal battery repair guide offered to AASP technicians reveals that the debonding may be completed with two leads from a family 9v battery.

Apple’s AASP restore information reveals the way to debond the battery case utilizing a 9v battery.

The iFixit weblog additionally praised Apple’s new “Restore Assistant” program to help AASP technicians and DIY-ers alike to have the ability to calibrate and make sure correct “components pairing” when utilizing new or harvested OEM components to restore an Apple machine.

“After we examined it out with the iPhone 15 collection earlier this week, we thought it was promising, if not fairly prepared for prime time,” the corporate famous. “However it labored impressively easily on our vanilla iPhone 16: one click on to pair and calibrate all elements without delay, and no bugs to be discovered.”

The Restore Assistant function in iOS 18 could or could not work with some compliant but third-party restore elements, nonetheless. The software program may additionally turn out to be a nuisance to patrons of used iPhones who have been unaware of earlier repairs, or any use of third-party components.

Apple’s personal restore information notes that utilizing a 9v battery can debond the battery casing within the iPhone 16 in a couple of 90 seconds. iFixit’s comparability used a 12v battery, and was in a position to debond in 60 seconds.

The total iFixit teardown additionally revealed that there is extra to the brand new Digital camera Management activator than meets the attention. The corporate was happy to improve the repairability rating of the iPhone 16 line to a seven out of 10; the iPhone 15, by comparison, scored a 4 out of 10.