Teardown

Google's official acknowledgment of multi-window and split screen capabilities in the still to be named Android N has inevitably put the Pixel C back in the spotlight. It doesn't hurt that Google's only remaining tablet also got a bit of a discount. The team at iFixit took that a sign from above (from the mothership really) to finally give the tablet-would-be-laptop a good and thorough teardown. Sadly, it was an adventured mired in glue, revealing the Pixel C to be a rather tough nut to crack. Or rather a difficult tablet to take apart.

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What, you might be asking, is a pentalobe? It's a sort of screw head - a very annoyingly rare screw head, one that's generally only in place to make taking devices apart more difficult. The screwdriver you're going to need to use to get this screw out is available to the public - it's no secret - but why has Meizu begun using it? And why Huawei? Has the screw suddenly become less expensive to use, or is there a more obvious reason?

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These days, the premium look and quality of flagship smartphones usually come at a price. The first to go are removable batteries, followed usually by hardened silos that are tough to get into. So when a flagship smartphone gets a 7 out of 10 repairability score, it's definitely a surprising but very much welcome breath of fresh air. That seems to be the case with the Huawei P9, the Chinese OEMs latest and greatest. Amusingly, iFixit notes that Huawei might have one upped Apple to some punches, despite copying the latter in a few aspects.

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As expected, Apple unveiled last week a new batch of Retina MacBooks that is visually indistinguishable from last year's model. That is, unless you get a Rose Gold version. Of course, you do get a beefier CPU and more capable battery, but almost everythin else is similar. It turns out, that similarity goes deep down into the MacBook's repairability. iFixit does its obligatory teardown of the device, finding very few good news inside. Well, except perhaps for the fortunate disappearance of Apple's previous tri-wing screws.

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LG has always bucked the trend when it came to certain features that its peers were seemingly throwing away. Particularly, it has stuck to replaceable batteries and microSD cards even when almost everyone else turned away from them. In that area, the LG G5 isn't that different, but the Korean manufacturer did one better. It took modularity to heart and implemented it in the very core of its flagship. The end result is probably one of the easiest high end, premium flagship to tear down and repair.

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The first thing you're going to want to know with a brand new iPad Pro 9.7-inch teardown is - should I tear mine down? Is it easy? Absolutely not. Over at iFixit they suggest that you'll have a "nail-biting 30-minute process of heating, blind prying, and suctioning" to make it begin to open. Don't do that. Leave it to the professionals. You're going to break it. We'd certainly break it, and not because we haven't tried tearing down electronics before.

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It is perhaps already a known fact that, except for a some key hardware components, the iPhone SE is pretty much a dead knocker for the iPhone 5s, both inside and out. What wasn't immediately evident, however, was how much those similar parts can actually be interchanged. That's the pleasant surprise that greeted iFixit when it finally tore through the iPhone SE. The good news: the journey is almost exactly like the iPhone 5s teardown. The bad news: so is the repairability score.

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The iPhone SE is already known to be an iPhone 6s in iPhone 5s clothing. What hasn't exactly been known is how much of Apple's smallest but latest smartphone is indeed composed of those more recent and more powerful pieces. Only a teardown can provide such insight and thanks to Chipworks, we now do. Thanks to the group, we are getting the first official look inside the iPhone SE, which apparently hides a few interesting surprises as far the the silicon is concerned.

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The folks at iFixit have taken apart the Oculus Rift CV1, the “real-deal” headset now shipping out to buyers and backers. As expected, there are some changes over the pre-release versions, two of which were likewise dismantled by the team. Ultimately, though, they found the headset to be moderately repairable with a score of 7 out of 10, citing the perma-head strap, “delicate” ribbon cables, and complex design as areas where DIYers will run into trouble.

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Smartphones are getting more sophisticated and also more intricate. While these initially translate to a better consumer experience, down the line, after a few years or even just months of usage, it could spell trouble. Smartphones are getting harder to repair, unless you are a seasoned and trained OEM technician. The Galaxy S7 is one of the most recent examples of that. While its slightly larger cousin, the Galaxy S7 edge, is thankfully not harder to repair despite its curved edge front, it is, sadly, just as difficult as the flat-faced version.

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In many fables and fairy tales, a common theme is how beauty, whether natural or acquired, comes at a price. It seems that is also applicable with smartphones. The Samsung Galaxy S7 takes the fancy premium look of its predecessor, adds a few more curves at the back, and dishes a good amount of waterproofing. While those features are indeed mighty tasty, they unfortunately come with a compromise for the user down the line. iFixit has finally shared their teardown adventure and, to put it bluntly, it was a repairability nightmare.

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What do you do when you get a high-end, high-profile flagship smartphone a week or so ahead of everyone else in the world? Why, destroy it of course! For science! There is already one video with the usual brutal treatment given to smartphones to see whether they will scratch, burn, or bend. Here, however, we have a far more gentler and more meticulous teardown. The folks over at Chipworks dig deep into the Samsung Galaxy S7 to discover possible hidden treasures buried beneath the gaskets and "faux" liquid cooling.

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