This article may contain affiliate links. Learn more on our Partner Program page.
iFixit released a teardown video of the standard iPhone 14 today and praised Apple.
The popular repair website iFixit has now taken the iPhone 14 apart and tested the repairability rated. The repair specialists have praised the iPhone 14's internal redesign, which makes it easier to repair the display and rear glass. They call it the biggest iPhone redesign since the iPhone X. As mentioned in some reviews, the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus are the first iPhone models since the iPhone 4S that can be opened from the back of the device. According to iFixit, the display and rear glass panel are secured with just two screws and one or two connectors, making both components easier to remove and replace.
This is such a big deal that it should have been Apple's big announcement - the iPhone has been redesigned from the inside out to make it easier to repair.
The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus are essentially a sandwich consisting of the display, a middle frame that houses most of the internal components, and the rear glass panel.
Apple redesigns the interior to make repairs easier
According to internal documents, Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Centers can replace the middle frame by gluing a new frame to the customer's existing display, rear glass and rear camera, provided those parts are not damaged.
The new metal frame supporting the structure required a complete internal redesign as well as a rethinking of the RF technology and effectively doubling the scope of protection.
In other words, Apple has redesigned the internals of the iPhone to make it easier to repair. The new internal design results in significantly lower repair fees for iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus models with cracked rear glass. Apple's documents indicate that after replacing the rear glass on the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, a software calibration called system configuration is required. It's unclear what happens if system configuration isn't completed, but the possibilities range from a warning that the part isn't genuine to problems with wireless charging, the LED camera flash, and/or the rear microphone.
iPhone 14: Teardown shows close-ups of important components
iFixit says it's still working on a teardown of the iPhone 14 Pro Max. Other teardowns have already shown that both iPhone 14 Pro models can be opened from the front as usual, as the internal redesign doesn't extend to those devices. Aside from the improved repairability, iFixit notes that the US models of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro have a "large gap" where the SIM card tray used to be, which is still present on the international models. The teardown also shows a close-up of the iPhone 14's logic board, which houses components such as the A15 Bionic chip and Qualcomm's Snapdragon X65 modem for 5G and satellite connections over the new n53 band. (Image: Apple)
