Teardown

Given their proximity in sizes, the new iPad Pro 10.5 is more often compared to last year’s iPad Pro 9.7. But, as they say, looks can be deceiving. In tearing down the new “Goldilocks” of iPad Pros, iFixit discovered that the 10.5-inch newcomer has, in fact, more in common with the larger 12.9-inch model from late 2015 when it comes to the internals. But rather than being a bad thing, in some ways it could be the start of a more standard, and only so slightly easier to repair, iPad Pro line.

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After being pleasantly surprised by the discoveries in the 2017 4K iMac, the teardown experts at iFixit braced themselves for another adventure. Imagine their disappointment when, upon opening the 2017 Retina MacBook and 2017 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, they were, instead, hit hard with a major case of deja vu. If you were, like them, expecting at least some significant changes to these refreshed MacBooks, you would be, just like them, sorely disappointed.

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Well that didn't take very long: Apple just announced its refreshed line of iMacs on Monday and iFixit has already gotten its hands on the 21.5-inch Retina 4K model. iFixit has wasted no time in tearing this bad boy down and documenting the process. As it does with all of its teardowns, iFixit has assigned a repairability score to Apple's new iMac, and DIYers may not like the results.

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If you presumed that gigantic phablets have gone the way of the Dodo bird, Xiaomi tried to prove you wrong last month. It launched the Mi Max 2, a second generation giant, with surprisingly positive sales numbers. But is bigger really better, especially when it comes to repairability. To answer that very question, the folks over at MyFixGuide took a golden Mi Max 2 and pried it open. And it seems that the giant doesn’t really have any surprises hidden inside.

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With the emergence, or resurgence, of glass backs on smartphones, JerryRigEverything's Zack Nelson has a new calling: removing the paint behind that glass to create a "clear back" phone. Well, at least those that survive his torture tests. Sorry, HTC U Ultra. The latest to get that treatment after the LG G6 and the Galaxy S8 is the Xiaomi Mi 6. But, along the way, Nelson also tries to discover just how water resistant the thing is.

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The new Nintendo Switch game console has officially been released, and if you were lucky enough to get your hands on one, you're probably enjoying the new Zelda right now. And as with the debut of any new tech device, the teardown experts at iFixit have already managed to pull one apart, offering us a look inside. So if you're curious about what's powering your new console-handheld hybrid, or want an update after that questionable "early prototype" teardown from a few weeks ago, here's the details you're looking for.

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In a matter of days, less than two weeks, gamers, critics, and Nintendo fans alike will finally be treated to first official hands-on of what is the most talked about gaming device this half of the year. That said, some people have already spoiled the Nintendo Switch surprise and while that has mostly been resolved in the US, the East isn’t exactly stopping the leakage yet. But instead of a finished product, we are being treated to the innards of the handheld console, presuming this is indeed the Nintendo Switch.

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It might sometimes be amusing to watch or read about teardowns from the likes of iFixit, but those aren't done for entertainment's sake. The content found on the group's website is geared towards helping users, at least the more advanced ones, do repairs of devices on their own. That, however, is against the wishes, not to mention explicit warnings, of manufacturers like Apple, who are now trying to block proposed laws that would apply the "right to repair" to electronic devices like smartphones.

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While most devices are at least a little bit DIY repairable according to iFixit, Apple's latest certainly isn't. The folks at iFixit responsible for tearing devices down to assess their repairability have found the Apple AirPods to rate a clean and simple zero - not good for the do-it-yourself hardware repair crowd at all whatsoever. It would seem that Apple did not have these folks in mind when they designed these very tiny sound-blasters and their charging case.

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Some of the very buyers of Microsoft's new Surface Studio all-in-one PC will be receiving their orders soon, and the teardown experts at iFixit were among the first to get their hands on one. They wasted little time in diving beyond that 28-inch touchscreen display in their effort to rate the device's repairability. Like most compact PCs and laptops these days, most components are locked in place, preventing any kind of repairs/modifications by users, but iFixit still came away with a few surprises.

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Just a couple of weeks after we got an up close and personal look at the 13-inch entry level MacBook Pro, the folks at iFixit are back with their teardown of the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. The teardown confirms a lot of things about the internals of the new MacBook Pro, and not all of them are good for those who'd like to handle repairs themselves.

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Sony may have offered its own teardown video of the new PlayStation 4 Pro console, but that didn't stop the experts at iFixit from pulling one apart and assessing its repairability. The PS4 Pro, of course, is a much more powerful version of the standard PS4, designed to produce the best graphics possible with support for 4K TVs. But the good news here is that all that extra horsepower doesn't put a hamper on opening up and repairing the console.

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