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iPhone 17 Pro teardown reveals larger camera sensors, and a repair-friendly design

Let the teardowns begin. Following yesterday’s peek at the iPhone Air MagSafe Battery, the first teardown of the new iPhone 17 Pro is already up, and it reveals some interesting tidbits about its internal architecture. Watch it below.

More screws, friendlier repairs

In a video that is just shy of 9 minutes long, YouTube channel REWA Technology takes viewers step by step through the process of disassembling the new iPhone 17 Pro.

In the video, with the help of an opening tool with suction, a bit of alcohol, and an opening pick, the iPhone 17 Pro is pried open, revealing the large graphene pad, which helps with heat dissipation.

During the disassembly process, they note that the iPhone 17 Pro uses more screws (14 in total) and less adhesive, which “could be friendly to repairs,” so that is definitely a win.

The teardown also reveals the larger sensors in the rear and front camera modules. Specifically, for the front camera module, Apple inverted the position of the dot projector and the flood illuminator compared with the iPhone 16 Pro.

As for the motherboard, they note that it is more densely packed, and it sits horizontally inside the device, “likely offering better drop protection.”

One noteworthy point of attention is the fact that the NAND memory chip’s position on one side of the motherboard partially overlaps with the A19 chip on the other side. They note that this could make it trickier to “heat the NAND for storage upgrades,” as it could damage the iPhone’s main chip.

Overall, the iPhone 17 Pro could be less tricky to repair than previous models, although the video notes that the presence of new connectors in some components makes specific parts of the disassembly process more risky and damage-prone.

Here is the full teardown:

Heve you ever repaired an iPhone by yourself? Let us know in the comments.

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Avatar for Marcus Mendes Marcus Mendes

Marcus Mendes is a Brazilian tech podcaster and journalist who has been closely following Apple since the mid-2000s.

He began covering Apple news in Brazilian media in 2012 and later broadened his focus to the wider tech industry, hosting a daily podcast for seven years.