Apple’s iPad mini got the teardown treatment this morning,
one day ahead of its official launch in stores. The diminutive tablet
gave up its secrets to iFixit’s expert disassembly staff, revealing its
complex inner workings to the camera. A lot of the parts are familiar,
coming from either the iPhone 5 or MacBook Air, and Samsung makes
a somewhat surprising appearance as an LCD panel supplier, something
some early reports suggested Samsung would not be involved in supplying this component for this device.
Samsung is likely one of many display component suppliers Apple is
using, but it suggests reports of the waning relationship between the
two companies is at least exaggerated. There are few other surprises
here, but we get a close-up look at the stereo speakers (Apple had
confirmed already that these were present, despite Amazon’s suggestion
they were left out), which is actually one area where the iPad mini even
beats the Retina-sporting iPad (which has mono audio). iFixit also
notes that the iPad mini’s battery is labeled in such a way that it
isn’t exactly clear what kind of specs it boasts, but it definitely
offers 4400mAh, and comes in at 50 percent less capacity than even the
iPad 2. Still, early reviews suggest it lasts at least as long as both
the iPad 2 and Retina iPad in actual use.
iFixit hasn’t weighed in on final repairability as of yet, but so far things aren’t looking good on that scale – The mini’s lightning port is soldered to the logic board, for instance, which isn’t the case on the iPad 3, which itself has a repairability score of 2 out of 10. iFixit’s teardown is still in progress, but we’ll update with its full repairability score when the process is complete, or you can follow along.
Update: So the final tally is 2 out of 10 for repairability, same as the full-sized iPad, since iFixit says it has some advantages over the iPad (battery not soldered to the logic board) but also some additional failings (hidden screws, soldered Lightning connector).
iFixit hasn’t weighed in on final repairability as of yet, but so far things aren’t looking good on that scale – The mini’s lightning port is soldered to the logic board, for instance, which isn’t the case on the iPad 3, which itself has a repairability score of 2 out of 10. iFixit’s teardown is still in progress, but we’ll update with its full repairability score when the process is complete, or you can follow along.
Update: So the final tally is 2 out of 10 for repairability, same as the full-sized iPad, since iFixit says it has some advantages over the iPad (battery not soldered to the logic board) but also some additional failings (hidden screws, soldered Lightning connector).
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