iFixit teardown the new Smart Battery Case, which has just been released a few days ago. It’s not a tear down guide, and should not be used as disassembly instructions. Here are some interesting things that they found:
- With some clever ducting, Apple turned the downward-facing speaker into a forward-facing speaker.
- The audiophile in us can’t help but wonder how these changes will affect sound quality.
- Headphone jack connectivity is provided in the form of…a hole. However, for anything bigger, you’ll need some sort of adapter. No fancy studio-size jacks for this pack.
- For you rose golders out there, you’re going to suffer some reduced flashiness, as this case covers most of the shiny metal body.
- The case is bendy above the battery bulge, to allow sliding the phone in and out.
- With 7.13 Whr (1877 mAh at 3.8 V) capacity, this battery more than doubles your iPhone 6s (6.55 Whr) capacity.
Smart Battery repairability 2 out of 10:
- Non-proprietary T3 Torx screws make repairs more accessible, but are covered by strongly-adhered microfiber liner.
- Battery replacement is possible, but will likely destroy the microfiber liner.
- The only possible repair—replacing the battery—is made difficult by very strong adhesive.
- No other repairs are possible without destroying the device.
All Apple’s accessories are in non-repairable device category, including the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard.
The Smart Battery Case can give your iPhone 6/6s an additional power up to 25 hours of talk time, 18 hours of Internet use on LTE, and 20 hours of video playback. You can get it for $99 with two color options: white or charcoal gray.
The other news: Tim Cook On The new Smart Battery Case: “I probably wouldn’t call it ‘the hump”