iFixit Teardown Reveals It’s So Easy to Take the Back Off of the iPhone 16

Apple has done plentifulness of selling to fto america cognize it gave the iPhone 16 a monolithic interior redesign to dissipate vigor better. In the process, it besides made its devices a small easier to repair. Over the weekend, iFixit’s co-founder, Kyle Wiens, performed the accustomed annual teardown of Apple’s latest flagship. Wiens recovered retired that taking the backmost disconnected of the caller iPhones is casual arsenic agelong you person the close tool.

The adhesive astir the caller iPhone has an aluminum lining underneath the rail, which allows energy to pulse done and soften the glue arsenic it warms it up. This is cleaner to enactment with than the accustomed adhesive strips and is besides resealable. It’s specifically disposable connected the iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Plus.

This peculiar adhesive tin beryllium warmed astatine varying temperatures, and the hotter it goes, the faster it debonds. Apple says you tin usage up to a 30V cablegram to execute the electrical release. iFixit tested it with 5V, 12V, 20V, and 30V, and it besides utilized the accidental to amusement disconnected however repairs are done with the FixHub, a portion of the new soldering kit.

There are immoderate caveats to this benignant of electrically-activated adhesive. “Only clip volition archer however this caller adhesive ages,” writes Wiens, with a nexus to Apple’s repair manual suggesting the adhesive could soften up implicit time.

The remainder of the teardown covers what Apple changed internally connected the iPhone 16, from cellular awesome placement to a alloy lawsuit astir the battery. “Hard compartment batteries alternatively of brushed pouch batteries won’t get accidentally punctured by a gaffe of a screwdriver, and truthful they’re mode little apt to drawback fire,” says Wiens.

The iPhone 16 is besides easier to get into since Apple recycled a repairability strategy from the iPhone 14. You tin present participate from either broadside of the instrumentality to popular retired the backside, which helps trim much accidental cracks oregon snaps successful the chassis.

The full teardown tin beryllium seen connected YouTube oregon embedded below.