Repair site praises new iPhone 16 line as the most repairable yet

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone

The traditional teardown by repair site iFixit has given the iPhone 16 lineup the highest repairability score of any previous iPhone, thanks to three key changes in the design and internals that make it easier to access components.

Disassembled iPhone 16 components arranged neatly, including screens, circuit boards, batteries, and camera modules.
The iPhone 16 lineup is easier to disassemble than ever before. Photo credit: iFixit



The rating, which is provisional pending Apple's release of parts, is based on what iFixit identifies as three major changes. As noted in an earlier teardown, rumors of Apple encasing the iPhone 16 Pro battery in hard steel case have proven to be true.

"Hard cell batteries instead of soft pouch batteries won't get accidentally punctured by a slip of a screwdriver, and so they're way less likely to catch fire," iFixit noted on its blog, greatly reducing the risk of battery damage. The company also praised Apple's change to a new adhesive that secures that battery, which can now be debonded when one passes an small electrical current through it.

The third factor noted was the expansion of the ability to disassemble the iPhone either from the front or back, increasing the ease of getting to the specific components that need repairing. This feature actually debuted on the base model iPhone 14, but it has now come to the iPhone 16's Pro models as well.

The iFixit blog referred to these changes as "big leaps for repairkind," which allowed for a more consistent and easily-repeatable repair process. Apple's own battery repair guide provided to AASP technicians shows that the debonding can be done with two leads from a household 9v battery.

Partially disassembled iPhone connected to a 9V battery using alligator clips, with a timer showing 1 minute and 30 seconds on the phone screen.
Apple's AASP repair guide shows how to debond the battery case using a 9v battery.

Harvesting OEM parts made easier also



The iFixit blog also praised Apple's new "Repair Assistant" program to assist AASP technicians and DIY-ers alike to be able to calibrate and confirm proper "parts pairing" when using new or harvested OEM parts to repair an Apple device.

"When we tested it out with the iPhone 15 series earlier this week, we thought it was promising, if not quite ready for prime time," the company noted. "But it worked impressively smoothly on our vanilla iPhone 16: one click to pair and calibrate all components at once, and no bugs to be found."

The Repair Assistant feature in iOS 18 may or may not work with some compliant but third-party repair components, however. The software could also become a nuisance to buyers of used iPhones who were unaware of previous repairs, or any use of third-party parts.

Apple's own repair guide notes that using a 9v battery can debond the battery casing in the iPhone 16 in about a 90 seconds. iFixit's comparison used a 12v battery, and was able to debond in 60 seconds.

The full iFixit teardown also revealed that there's more to the new Camera Control activator than meets the eye. The company was pleased to upgrade the repairability score of the iPhone 16 line to a seven out of 10; the iPhone 15, by comparison, scored a four out of 10.



Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 19
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 7,963member
    No doubt upcoming EU directives came into play on these changes. 

    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 2 of 19
    XedXed Posts: 2,812member
    avon b7 said:
    No doubt upcoming EU directives came into play on these changes. 
    Show your work.
    roxsocksmacxpresswilliamlondonStrangeDays
  • Reply 3 of 19
    mikethemartianmikethemartian Posts: 1,468member
    All these improvements to repairability and yet it is the best iPhone ever! Who would have thought that was possible. :-)
    tiredskillsroxsocksmuthuk_vanalingamwilliamlondongrandact73
  • Reply 4 of 19
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,907member
    mikethemartian said:
    All these improvements to repairability and yet it is the best iPhone ever! Who would have thought that was possible. :-)
    It also took a shitload of reengineering of basically the entire internal section of the iPhone. This couldn't have been cheap to do. Stuff like this is the stuff people don't understand when they complain that the phone is the same phone as last year. Maybe at a glance yes it's the same phone as last year but they don't see the internals being pretty much entirely different. Sometimes the changes that need to be made are under the hood, not customer facing. 
    williamlondonmike1StrangeDays
  • Reply 5 of 19
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,907member

    avon b7 said:
    No doubt upcoming EU directives came into play on these changes. 

    Oh I'm sure they'll find something to bitch about. The EU is never happy no matter what Apple does for anything whether it's a piece of hardware, software or their services. 
    elijahgwilliamlondon
  • Reply 6 of 19
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 3,997member
    Yet they still insist on using those asinine pentalobe screws! Can someone explain what is wrong with industry standard torx? (I also have to question iFixit’s complaint that you could puncture the battery with a screwdriver. Just how much force are you using on a 1mm screw???

    Any improvement in reparability is welcome. From the videos, it still seems that the battery is rather difficult to access, requiring the removal of several other components. 

    williamlondon
  • Reply 7 of 19
    danoxdanox Posts: 3,254member
    Due to recent events in the Middle East right to repair is going to disappear, every part in any personal electronic device used by the public is going to have to be accounted for with a serial number and those electronic parts will be designed not to work if they have been tampered with. Sound familiar? Government bureaucracies and ambulance chasing lawyers are going to have a field day in the EU and in America.
    edited September 22 williamlondon
  • Reply 8 of 19
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,499member
    danox said:
    [...]every part in any personal electronic device used by the public is going to have to be accounted for with a serial number and those electronic parts will be designed not to work if they have been tampered with. 
    Putting aside the hysterical paranoia for a moment ... Apple is moving to make repairs **much easier** for both pro and amateur repairers, and that's a good thing. An earlier AppleInsider article featured interview with Apple execs talking about the balance between durability and repairability, and it would seem that around the time this issue became a cause celebre in the tech press, Apple execs tasked the engineering teams with rebalancing the ratio a bit. This is the result.

    Repairs done poorly are still a risk. Ever been inside an AASP repair facility? There's a bucket of sand and a fireproof safe next to every technician, and there's a reason for that. People have died from explosions involving smartphones (or more often, their cheap replacement chargers). No terrorist organisation required.

    Making the battery safer and yet more replaceable is another example of superior Apple engineering and evidence that it does listen to customer issues/complaints. Every change made to an iPhone involves a complicated rebalancing of everything else. It's a miracle that smart changes like this can happen on a fairly regular basis.
    williamlondonStrangeDays
  • Reply 9 of 19
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 7,963member
    Xed said:
    avon b7 said:
    No doubt upcoming EU directives came into play on these changes. 
    Show your work.

    "Summary

    The main objective of this report is to consolidate and advance the existing knowledge and provide an
    evidence-based update on the status of the repair sector in Europe. The study focuses on three key product
    groups, electrical and electrical equipment (EEE), clothing and furniture and provides an estimate of the value and size of the current repair activities in these sectors. Furthermore, an overview of the current
    repair behaviour in Europe is presented, along with the underlying factors impacting these behaviours.

    More specifically, this work identifies and categorizes the key challenges and barriers to repair and introduces potential solutions and opportunities for increased uptake of the repair activities by European consumers.

    Looking at the recent market data and the existing confidence indicators, the future prospects for businesses operating in the repair sector do not look that attractive. Along with the policies to encourage
    a circular economy in Europe, targeted initiatives and legislation as well as harmonized economic instruments are needed to improve the operating context for the repair sector at the EU level. These
    should be underpinned by technical enabling conditions such as encouraging design for repair, improved quality of products, and availability of frequent and structured data on repair operations. Increasing awareness among the public about the benefits of repair and its role in achieving a circular economy is a
    key step, which can be supported by organising dedicated awareness campaigns taking local, regional and
    national contexts and needs into consideration. "

    https://circulareconomy.europa.eu/platform/sites/default/files/202212/Repair%20sector.pdf

    There are numerous directives, among them the updated Batteries directive, right to repair etc that are due to come into effect under the broad umbrella of the EU's green goals and the circular economy. 

    "Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6) lays down, in particular, supply-side requirements pursuing the objective of more sustainable product design at the production phase."

    A lot of research has gone into the subject of design for repair side of things. A lot of it funded by the EUs Horizon 2020 project.

    For example this... 

    https://prompt-project.eu/results/design-for-product-repairability/


    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 10 of 19
    MacocalypseMacocalypse Posts: 18member
    Though I don't think applying 33.333% more voltage to the battery than recommended by the manufacture is a very good idea. Having said that iFixit has had a poor track record when it comes to following manufacture safety procedures for embedded batteries and power supplies. 
  • Reply 11 of 19
    blastdoorblastdoor Posts: 3,523member
    The only world I can imagine in which I care about repairability of an iPhone is a world in which the supply chain has been badly disrupted and I have to hold on to my iPhone for much longer than I had anticipated.

    Unfortunately, that’s a realistic scenario 
  • Reply 12 of 19
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,398member
    blastdoor said:
    The only world I can imagine in which I care about repairability of an iPhone is a world in which the supply chain has been badly disrupted and I have to hold on to my iPhone for much longer than I had anticipated.

    Unfortunately, that’s a realistic scenario 

    In addition, I can't even imagine a scenario where I wouldn't have Apple do the repair themselves.
    blastdoorStrangeDays
  • Reply 13 of 19
    blitz1blitz1 Posts: 447member
    Xed said:
    avon b7 said:
    No doubt upcoming EU directives came into play on these changes. 
    Show your work.
    Here you are:

    On Tuesday, [European] Parliament adopted its position on a stronger “right to repair” for consumers, with 590 votes in favour, 15 against, and 15 abstentions. The proposal aims to encourage more sustainable consumption, by making it easier to repair defective goods, reducing waste and supporting the repair sector.

    Within the legal guarantee period, sellers would be required to prioritise repair if it is cheaper or equal in cost to replacing a good, unless the repair is not feasible or inconvenient for the consumer. MEPs also propose to extend the legal guarantee by one year once a product has been fixed.
    muthuk_vanalingamwilliamlondon
  • Reply 14 of 19
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 3,997member
    blitz1 said:
    Xed said:
    avon b7 said:
    No doubt upcoming EU directives came into play on these changes. 
    Show your work.
    Here you are:

    On Tuesday, [European] Parliament adopted its position on a stronger “right to repair” for consumers, with 590 votes in favour, 15 against, and 15 abstentions. The proposal aims to encourage more sustainable consumption, by making it easier to repair defective goods, reducing waste and supporting the repair sector.

    Within the legal guarantee period, sellers would be required to prioritise repair if it is cheaper or equal in cost to replacing a good, unless the repair is not feasible or inconvenient for the consumer. MEPs also propose to extend the legal guarantee by one year once a product has been fixed.
    “unless the repair is not feasible or inconvenient for the consumer” - it’s hard to classify any smartphone repair as convenient and I’d argue that the skill involved makes them infeasible for the majority. 
    williamlondonStrangeDays
  • Reply 15 of 19
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 7,963member
    MplsP said:
    blitz1 said:
    Xed said:
    avon b7 said:
    No doubt upcoming EU directives came into play on these changes. 
    Show your work.
    Here you are:

    On Tuesday, [European] Parliament adopted its position on a stronger “right to repair” for consumers, with 590 votes in favour, 15 against, and 15 abstentions. The proposal aims to encourage more sustainable consumption, by making it easier to repair defective goods, reducing waste and supporting the repair sector.

    Within the legal guarantee period, sellers would be required to prioritise repair if it is cheaper or equal in cost to replacing a good, unless the repair is not feasible or inconvenient for the consumer. MEPs also propose to extend the legal guarantee by one year once a product has been fixed.
    “unless the repair is not feasible or inconvenient for the consumer” - it’s hard to classify any smartphone repair as convenient and I’d argue that the skill involved makes them infeasible for the majority. 
    This is where the 'design for repair' angle comes in. We already know that the updated batteries directive may well make smartphone manufacturer design for consumer replacable batteries with commonly available tools.

    There are a lot of studies underway looking deeply into better design practices with repair in mind. There is also the issue of 'design protection'. 

    It's a multi-pronged initiative and Apple has been consulted along the way (along with all major industry players) so it knows where regulations are headed. 

    It will probably not be in manufacturers' best interests to make things not feasible for repair as they may end up paying more in the long run. 

    There is a proposal for devices to carry repairability labels so consumers can know up front how repairable a device is. That is due for 2025. 

    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 16 of 19
    danoxdanox Posts: 3,254member
    chasm said:
    danox said:
    [...]every part in any personal electronic device used by the public is going to have to be accounted for with a serial number and those electronic parts will be designed not to work if they have been tampered with. 
    Putting aside the hysterical paranoia for a moment ... Apple is moving to make repairs **much easier** for both pro and amateur repairers, and that's a good thing. An earlier AppleInsider article featured interview with Apple execs talking about the balance between durability and repairability, and it would seem that around the time this issue became a cause celebre in the tech press, Apple execs tasked the engineering teams with rebalancing the ratio a bit. This is the result.

    Repairs done poorly are still a risk. Ever been inside an AASP repair facility? There's a bucket of sand and a fireproof safe next to every technician, and there's a reason for that. People have died from explosions involving smartphones (or more often, their cheap replacement chargers). No terrorist organisation required.

    Making the battery safer and yet more replaceable is another example of superior Apple engineering and evidence that it does listen to customer issues/complaints. Every change made to an iPhone involves a complicated rebalancing of everything else. It's a miracle that smart changes like this can happen on a fairly regular basis.

    Nothing hysterical because of recent events going on in the Ukraine and Russia and now in the Middle East on the ground war has also changed for the worse forever with drones flying around, and being attached to a radio is now death sentence in the field for a human, and with some countries with satellites in space in very short time, nowhere on the planet is going to be safe, escalation in tactics and technology has taken place, that was a clever attack by you know who but now everybody around the globe has new ideas sometimes the genie should stay in the bottle, but it’s out now soon to be joined by AI weapons. Palmer Lucky will just put the icing on top…..  

    In past human wars when technology makes an advancement tactics usually lag behind remain in the past for a while i.e. the American Civil War or World War One hence the large body count initially.
    edited September 23
  • Reply 17 of 19
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 13,039member
    danox said:
    chasm said:
    danox said:
    [...]every part in any personal electronic device used by the public is going to have to be accounted for with a serial number and those electronic parts will be designed not to work if they have been tampered with. 
    Putting aside the hysterical paranoia for a moment ... Apple is moving to make repairs **much easier** for both pro and amateur repairers, and that's a good thing. An earlier AppleInsider article featured interview with Apple execs talking about the balance between durability and repairability, and it would seem that around the time this issue became a cause celebre in the tech press, Apple execs tasked the engineering teams with rebalancing the ratio a bit. This is the result.

    Repairs done poorly are still a risk. Ever been inside an AASP repair facility? There's a bucket of sand and a fireproof safe next to every technician, and there's a reason for that. People have died from explosions involving smartphones (or more often, their cheap replacement chargers). No terrorist organisation required.

    Making the battery safer and yet more replaceable is another example of superior Apple engineering and evidence that it does listen to customer issues/complaints. Every change made to an iPhone involves a complicated rebalancing of everything else. It's a miracle that smart changes like this can happen on a fairly regular basis.
    Nothing hysterical because of recent events going on in the Ukraine and Russia
    Note: Ukraine is a country and not a region, the phrase “the Ukraine” is Russia’s label as they falsely claim it’s a region as cover to justify their illegal invasion. It’s simply Ukraine. Just like Ireland is not “the Ireland”.
    edited September 23
  • Reply 18 of 19
    grandact73grandact73 Posts: 54member
    macxpress said:
    mikethemartian said:
    All these improvements to repairability and yet it is the best iPhone ever! Who would have thought that was possible. :-)
    It also took a shitload of reengineering of basically the entire internal section of the iPhone. This couldn't have been cheap to do. Stuff like this is the stuff people don't understand when they complain that the phone is the same phone as last year. Maybe at a glance yes it's the same phone as last year but they don't see the internals being pretty much entirely different. Sometimes the changes that need to be made are under the hood, not customer facing. 
    Provide your source.
  • Reply 19 of 19
    blitz1blitz1 Posts: 447member
    MplsP said:
    blitz1 said:
    Xed said:
    avon b7 said:
    No doubt upcoming EU directives came into play on these changes. 
    Show your work.
    Here you are:

    On Tuesday, [European] Parliament adopted its position on a stronger “right to repair” for consumers, with 590 votes in favour, 15 against, and 15 abstentions. The proposal aims to encourage more sustainable consumption, by making it easier to repair defective goods, reducing waste and supporting the repair sector.

    Within the legal guarantee period, sellers would be required to prioritise repair if it is cheaper or equal in cost to replacing a good, unless the repair is not feasible or inconvenient for the consumer. MEPs also propose to extend the legal guarantee by one year once a product has been fixed.
    “unless the repair is not feasible or inconvenient for the consumer” - it’s hard to classify any smartphone repair as convenient and I’d argue that the skill involved makes them infeasible for the majority. 
    Apple made it "not feasible" for the consumer.
    Those days are well over.

    Europe had (again) the upper hand - also for the benefit of the US customer
    muthuk_vanalingam
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