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iPad Air 2 teardown shows minor internal tweaks, 15% smaller 7340 mAh battery

With iPad Air 2 units now officially arriving in the hands of customers, our friends over at iFixit have officially kicked off their ritual teardown of the device. For the most part the teardown only revealed minor changes on the inside, such as repositioned display cables that iFixit calls a welcomed changed for repairs.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlLf6sei6YQ]

Also revealed are minor tweaks to Wi-Fi antennas and other components. In addition, the teardown confirms an approximately 15% smaller battery compared to the previous generation iPad Air…

The newly-bonded front panel is more rigid than in previous iPad models, and therefore feels a bit sturdier to pry against—however, flexing the glass still disturbs the LCD, even when you aren’t inserting the pick very deeply. That being the case, the glued-down display remains the iPad’s only access point, so there’s still a risk of damaging it even when performing ordinary repairs.

Inside the iPad Air 2 is an NFC chip similar to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models, but we’ve confirmed with sources it is for use as the Secure Element in Apple Pay for in-app purchases only on the new iPads.

iFixit used a Wi-Fi only model of the new iPad Air 2, so it couldn’t comment on positioning of cellular components in relation to the repositioned Wi-Fi antennas.

The teardown shows a 7340 mAh battery (27.3-watt-hour), which as expected is smaller than the 8827 mAh (32.9 WH) battery it found in the previous generation Air. Several reviews of the Air 2 noticed a reduced battery life over the first generation iPad Air in real world use, but Apple quoted the same 10-hour battery life for the new iPad. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, however: The first iPad Air also had a smaller battery than the iPad model before it, which often goes hand in hand with a much slimmer design.

Components found in the teardown that aren’t disclosed by Apple include:

-NXP Semiconductors 8416A1 Touch ID Sensor
-Parade Technologies DP675 LCD Driver
-Texas Instruments TPS65143A LCD Bias Solution For LCD Panels
-Apple APL1012 A8X 64-bit Processor
-Elpida (Micron Technology) F8164A3MD (two identical chips)
-SK Hynix H2JTDG8UD1BMR 128 Gb (16 GB) NAND Flash
-NXP 65V10 NFC Module (as found in the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus)
-Apple (Cirrus Logic) 338S1213 Audio Codec
-NXP Semiconductors LPC18B1UK ARM Cortex-M3 Microcontroller (Apple M8 Motion Co-Processor)
-Maxim Integrated MAX98721BEWV Boosted Class Amplifier
-Broadcom BCM5976 Digitizer Controller
-Texas Instruments TI48WHXDP 343S0583
-Fairchild Semiconductor FDMC 6683 and FDMC 6676BZ (two chips that date all the way back to the iPad 2)

The teardown is still in progress at iFixit.

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Comments

  1. iphone6splus - 10 years ago

    Smaller battery on Air, bigger battery on Pro.

  2. rogifan - 10 years ago

    So the Nexus 9 is thicker than the Air 2 and has a bigger battery yet it gets 9-9.5 hours whereas the Air gets around 11.

    • Nexus 9 has a 6700mah battey and the new iPad has a 7340mah. iPad has the bigger battery. If you’re going to bash another product at least know the specs.

  3. Jared Timm (@Jared_Timm) - 10 years ago

    While disappointing, this is stated on the official store. iPad Air – 32.4 Watt-hours (http://store.apple.com/us/buy-ipad/ipad-air), iPad Air 2 – 27.3 Watt-hours (http://store.apple.com/us/buy-ipad/ipad-air-2). Shown under Power and battery.

  4. Naughty move Apple! That battery life should not be claimed the same when all reviews say otherwise. Trading standards should get involved. I love Apple but things like this are morally wrong and don’t help their image or reputation.

    • taoprophet420 - 10 years ago

      The iPad Air got better battery life then quoted, iPad Air 2 gets what is quoted. Apple is usually conservative on their batter usage, the iPad Air

      • taoprophet420 - 10 years ago

        Hate note being able to edit posts.

        The iPad Air got far superior battery life then what Apple stated. You can’t compare stated battery life, when real world usage is different. You have to compare real world usage welhich is going to be down do to a smaller battery.

      • matthewr1990 - 10 years ago

        I have to agree with the iPad air battery. I would often get 14-16 hours of usage over 3 days of use from a single charge. Granted it was mainly Netflix. Social media and web surfing but I would only charge it twice a week and still get more than a solid day and a half of constant use.

      • wmargot - 10 years ago

        taoprophet420 You’re confusing THAN and THEN.

      • taoprophet420 - 10 years ago

        Fibro fog.

    • Nics Trendy - 10 years ago

      Lemme remind you that iPad 3rd gen has 11,666 mAh but iPad Air with 8827 mAh still live bit longer. And most of the iPad can stay bit longer than what it claim to be with 10-13 hours, so I don’t think we (customer) are losing anything.

  5. giskardian - 10 years ago

    Total FAIL at case design. It should take no more than 10 minutes to replace the battery. Skip the fucking glue and secure it the same as the iPhones.

    • Mosha - 10 years ago

      All iPhones as I recall from the iPhone 4 have had there batteries glued in.

  6. Jordan, I think there is a typo in the first paragraph.
    “……. calls a welcome change for repairs……”

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.


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