iPhone 14 Pro Max Teardown Reveals Similar Internal Design from Last Year With the Same Repairability Hiccups
Apple really surprised critics with the repairability of the iPhone 14. For the first time ever, the phone comes with an easily removable back cover. But unfortunately, as the recent iFixit teardown shows the same repairability improvements don’t show up on the iPhone 14 Pro models.
According to iFixit, the iPhone 14 Pro largely carries over the same internal design from the iPhone 13 models, which again, weren’t very repair friendly. On the other hand, the base iPhone 14 has completely redesigned internals, and the phone actually opens from both the front and the back revealing a midframe, making repairs way more accessible.
Another point of contention with the iPhone 14 lineup is the removal of the SIM tray on the US version, and as the teardown shows, that space is left empty as Apple doesn’t use it for anything. This clearly shows that the move is more aligned to push the eSIM standard, than to save internal space on the new phones.
With the brains out, we can move on to checking out what was once the SIM reader and is now, well, a whole lot of nothing. This would have been a fantastic spot for an easter egg, or a friendly ‘Hi iFixit’ note, but Apple takes themselves far too seriously for any such shenanigans.
– Kyle Wiens, iFixit
The teardown also reveals the Qualcomm X65 modem with support for the n53 band, which incidentally powers the new satellite SOS feature on the iPhone 14 lineup. There’s also the new A16 Bionic SoC at the heart of it. Apart from that, the logic board design doesn’t really change much from last year.
Only one question remains: What’s the score? Well, unfortunately these Pro models have been left in the dust by the more “boring” iPhone 14’s secretly enhanced repairability. Due to the 14 Pro and Pro Max continuing with iPhone 13-era construction, their score is stuck in the past, too.
– Kyle Wiens, iFixit
As for the overall repairability score, iFixit gives the Pro models a 6 out of 10. Last year’s iPhone 13 Pro models received a similar score, and clearly things haven’t improved in this regard.
