It’s not too surprising that Apple’s new iPhone 6s Smart Case isn’t made to be easily opened for repairs. To get inside for its usual teardown routine, iFixit had to peel off the soft lining of the case by heating up the adhesive. It then had to remove three proprietary Apple screws to remove a metal reinforcement plate and get at the battery itself. So while you likely won’t be able to repair your new Smart Case without destroying it, we do get a look inside of the new product thanks to iFixit’s willingness to do so…
Apple’s new $99 Smart Battery case for iPhone 6s has been getting a lot of attention this week as pundits and consumers question the design decisions made on the product, while competitors take the opportunity to do the usual Apple mocking adverts. One possible answer for the protruding battery bump on the case that seems to be universally disliked: some have speculated it could be Apple’s way of avoiding patents from the big battery case manufacturers.
But other than the obvious battery bump and the 7.13 Whr (1877 mAh at 3.8 V) capacity battery, iFixit found only the expected Lightning connector components in addition to two chips: NXP NX20P3 load switch (which is used in Lightning to USB cables) and a NXP 1608A1 charging IC. The rest is seemingly being handled on the software side via the connected iPhone.
The tear down also notes that other than the metal reinforcement plate and flexible hinge, the rest of the case is “made of a hard plastic, seamlessly coated in soft silicone.”
But for all of the hurdles to get into the device, Apple’s proprietary screws, and the fact that the battery isn’t made to be repairable or swappable, overall iFixit gives the new Smart Case an unimpressive 2 out of 10 for repairability.
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Any word on whether this battery is excess inventory from another older iOS product?
There are no other Apple products that contain that size of battery. The iPhone batteries are much thinner in width, based on other iFixit teardowns. Also, the ampere-hour rate is different than any iOS device before it.
No, I don’t think it’s excess inventory. Apple keeps their components managed pretty well, so it’s pretty hard for Apple to get caught with a large inventory of batteries that are just excess that they would reuse in a new product. If they used the same battery in a different product, that’s not necessarily excess inventory, but just sharing the same component. They buy HDD’s, RAM, etc. that gets installed in many different products, and they might design a new product that uses an component from another device, because it might be cost effective, or it might be the right component to use.
Example, the Apple TV doesn’t use an A9 or A9X, because the A9/A9X is too expensive, not as available due to the supply of them, so that’s why they use an older gen processor in the Apple TV. So that A8 processor isn’t excess inventory, it’s just a cheaper older gen processor that’s readily available.
Apple (and their outsource assembly houses) order enough components to mfg the products they are making so a l of those components come in a Just In Time manner, instead of just stock piling components in a warehouse.
They only components they stock in a warehouse are for repair and they keep the supply constantly flowing as required by demand. Once a component is not needed, they typically manage the inventory so that there is VERY little stock to sell off to the excess inventory market. There are companies that buy excess inventory from Apple and any Apple reseller that’s dumping excess inventory.
No lo to the actual ifixif article?
It’s the link titled “usual teardown routine,” 2nd sentence.
Would anyone actually try to ever repair items like this? Come on, yes, its cool to see inside them, but no one would really bother. Stop with the stupid repairability scale.
People sure like to bitch over the dumbest shit. Like who cares if this case has a hump? It provides extra battery power which is what any iPhone greatly needs. People will complain over an uneven case design but the don’t complain over a otter box that makes your phone over an inch thick. Come on.
It’s not what I would call a typical Apple design. It’s a little on the hoky side in terms of the overall design. but I guess this might be something Marc Newsom designed.