Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iPad Air, otherwise known as the fifth-generation iPad – won’t be easy to repair, at least as per the opinion of the experts at iFixit.
iFixit is yet again among the very first to tear down Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s full sized iPad Air tablet. iFixit regularly takes apart a wide range of gadgets like smartphones, tablets and laptops and this time they’ve got their hands on the latest tablet on the market – the iPad Air.
Apple’s iPad Air specifications
Before delving deeper and finding out what lies under its hood, let’s first learn about the technical specs of the iPad Air:
- 9.7-inch, IPS LCD with 2,048 x 1,536 resolution at 264 ppi
- Dual-core A7 CPU with 64-bit architecture
- M7 motion-tracking coprocessor
- 5-megapixel rear iSight camera capable of recording 1080p video; 1.2-megapixel 720p front-facing camera
- Support for 14 LTE bands
- 802.11n dual-antenna MIMO Wi-Fi
- Memory options: 16, 32, 64 or 128GB
iPad Air tear down
Now over to the teardown. The iPad Air is identified by the model number A1475. Cracking open the tablet was no fun, all thanks to the ample adhesive used to seal the device.
The LCD is easy to remove once the front panel is taken off the iPad. The battery is not soldered to the logic board which is a good thing, but iFixit also notes that “This is the most difficult battery removal procedure we’ve seen in an iPad.”
iFixit found that the battery has only two cells rated at 32.9 WHr capacity, while the last generation iPad had three cell battery rated at 43 WHr. However, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has still managed to increase the efficiency of the battery, perhaps because of the brand-new A7 chip.
You won’t be able to access the front panel’s connector until you remove the LCD, making it harder to replace even such small things.
Finally, we move on to the main even: the iFixit repairability score. iPad Air gets a poor 2 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair) repairability score, but that’s expected since Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s products never get good scores at repairability. Unless you’re a level 100 enthusiast and don’t fear breaking things inside, you’re recommended not to try open it. Not everyone can repair such complex devices and that’s why, they recommend that consumers leave this one to the experts.
