iPhone 5s Teardown

John

Teardown

Teardowns provide a look inside a device and should not be used as disassembly instructions.

[url=][/url]EditStep 1 — iPhone 5s Teardown

• An iPhone release means a trip to the future—the iFixit teardown crew has traveled 17 hours forward in time to get the iPhone 5s early.
• We want to send out a big thanks to our good friends at MacFixit Australia for letting us use their office in Melbourne for the teardown. They stock Mac and iPhone upgrades/accessories, and also carry our iFixit toolkits.
  • To cover all our bases, we confirmed with our best linguists that the 5s upside-down is still the 5s.
    
    
• Speaking of toolkits, for this teardown, we'll be using iFixit's brand-new Pro Tech Screwdriver Set.
  
  

[url=]1 [/url]EditStep 2

• As we ready ourselves to delve into the delightful innards of the 5s, let's check out some of its tech specs:
  • Apple A7 processor with 64-bit architecture
  • M7 motion co-processor
  • 16, 32, or 64 GB Storage
  • 4-inch retina display with 326 ppi
  • 8 MP iSight camera (with larger 1.5µ pixels) and a 1.2MP FaceTime camera.
  • Fingerprint identity sensor built into the home button
  • Available in three different colors: space gray, silver, and gooooooold (or as we call them, Not-at-all-the-Color-of-Space, Second Place Medal, and Bling!).
    
    
  
  

[url=][/url]EditStep 3

• Apple continues the everlasting trend of locking users out with pentalobular screws. Luckily, we came prepared. We whip out our trusty iPhone 5 Liberation Kit, and to our pleasant surprise, it works!
• Unfortunately, we are ill-equipped in the color department, as we only have silver and black replacement Phillips screws.
  • We are currently involved in heavy lobbying to our product designers to create 14k gold replacement screws. They'll be $50 each and strip the first time you try to unscrew them, so they will be perfect for the iPhone. Stay posted.
    
    
• With our iPhone 5s sufficiently liberated, it reminds us of another polka-dotted iPhone teardowncoming in the near future…
  
  

[url=][/url]EditStep 4

• We're done screwing around; it's time to get this baby open! Just like last year, we enlist the help of a suction cup to free the display assembly from the rear casing.
• Unlike last year, we make use of some gentle spudgering, just in case…
  
  

[url=][/url]EditStep 5

• Our careful spudgering paid off. At the bottom of the phone, a cable connects the Touch ID sensor in the home button to the Lightning port assembly.
  • This adds a small element of danger to disassembly, as pulling too hard on the suction cup could cause accidental damage to the cable.
    
    
• We survive this first booby trap and swiftly disconnect the Touch ID cable connector with the help of a spudger.
• Alas, our first peek at the internal layout of the 5s. Comparing it to the iPhone 5, we spot very few differences, the main one being the lack of a battery removal pull-tab.
  
  

[url=]3 [/url]EditStep 6

• With our favorite screwdriver set, we remove a few metal connector covers and embark on the epic battle of battery removal.
• The missing battery pull-tab, though seemingly innocuous, indicates a bigger problem for battery repair: glue.
• Perhaps the "s" in 5s stands for "stuck," as in "this battery is stuck in with a lot of glue," or "I hope you didn't want to replace your battery—you're going to be stuck with this one."
• While we'd love a tool-less battery removal as we've seen in other phones, we settle for thermal battery removal via an iOpener.
• Holy adhesive! It appears Apple ditched the minimal adhesive in the iPhone 5 in favor of those two huge white runways of adhesive holding the 5s(tuck) battery in place.
• Update: Lots of folks notified us of the peel-able nature of the adhesive strips. We've acquired more iPhones for the repair guides, and we'll adjust the repair score (if needed) once we investigate the issue!
  
  

[url=]3 [/url]EditStep 7

• The 5s has a claimed 10 hours of talk time on 3G, but there are rumbles that iOS 7 isn't doing you any favors.
• The gold unit from Desay Battery Co., Ltd in Huizhou, China sports a 3.8V - 5.92Wh - 1560 mAh battery. Comparatively:
  • iPhone 5: 3.8 V - 1440 mAh - 5.45 Wh. Talk time: Up to 8 hours on 3G. Standby time: Up to 225 hours.
  • Samsung Galaxy S4: 3.8 V - 2600 mAh - 9.88 Wh. Talk time: up to 7 hours. Standby time: Up to 300 hours.
  • Motorola Moto X: 3.8 V - 2200 mAh - 8.4 Wh. 24 hours of "mixed usage."
    
    
• It appears different units sport different battery manufacturers; our "space-gray" spare (right) comes to us from Simplo Technology Inc.
  
  

[url=]1 [/url]EditStep 8

• With the battery safely removed, we turn to the next step in our disassembly journey: removing the (unchanged) 326 ppi Retina display assembly.
• A few flicks of a spudger to disconnect the FaceTime camera, digitizer, and LCD cables, and the display is free.
  • Looking for some tech specs on the display? Well look no further! In fact, just look backwards…to the iPhone 5. Despite the trend in almost every other smartphone release, the iPhone 5s display is no bigger, better, or badder than the 5.
    
    
  
  

[url=]10 [/url]EditStep 9

• We quickly extract the home button and Touch ID, Apple's new fingerprint scanner. Time to dust for prints!
  • A CMOS chip, the Touch ID is essentially a bunch of very small capacitors that creates an "image" of the ridges on your finger.
    
    
• The sensor technology, developed by AuthenTecand bought by Apple a year ago, reportedly stores your fingerprints locally, so giving your iPhone the finger will not make it all the way back to Cupertino.
• We worry about how well the sapphire crystal covering the sensor can protect it from degrading over time like most CMOS fingerprint sensors. If not, it could become a ticking time bomb, just like that super-glued battery.
  
  

[url=][/url]EditStep 10

• We uncover the iSight camera.
• The back of the iSight camera is labeled DNL333 41WGRF 4W61W.
• According to our good friend Jim Morrison, Vice President of the Technology Analysis Group atChipworks, "the DNL markings are consistent with the markings on the camera modules housing the Sony IMX145 we saw in the iPhone 4s and on the iPhone 5. The marks on the side of the module are different, but our industry insiders tell us this is Sony's again."
• As Apple has stated the pixel pitch on this camera is 1.5 µ, this sensor should not be the IMX145, but a newer variant.
• The bottom of the camera is labeled AW32 65BD 4511 b763.
  
  

[url=][/url]EditStep 11

• For those of us counting steps and comparing with last year, we're unsurprisingly right on par.
• A great example of Apple's iterative design, the 5s shows some streamlining and optimization in its internal construction.
• Gone are those silly antenna interconnect cables, leaving one less thing to break or get accidentally disconnected.
  • If only they had decided to move that antenna connector from the bottom of the logic board to the top...
    
    
  
  

[url=]1 [/url]EditStep 12

• Looks like we found a Murata 339S0205 Wi-Fi module (based on the Broadcom BCM4334, according to Chipworks).
• Again comparing our 16 and 64 GB models:
  • It seems that the Murata IC is the same between both iPhone 5s'.
  • The design of both logic boards may be identical, but slight differences in markings (e.g. 94V-0 on the rightmost, nonexistent on the leftmost) may indicate that Apple is manufacturing the 5s logic boards at multiple locations.
    
    
  
  

[url=]2 [/url]EditStep 13

• Open ses-EMI! Behold, IC treasures identified:
  • SK Hynix H2JTDG8UD3MBR 128 Gb (16 GB) NAND Flash
  • Qualcomm PM8018 RF power management IC
  • TriQuint TQM6M6224
  • Apple 338S1216
  • Broadcom BCM5976 touchscreen controller
  • Texas Instruments 343S0645 touchscreen interface
  • Skyworks 77810
    
    
  
  

[url=]8 [/url]EditStep 14

• More ICs!
  • Skyworks 77355
  • Avago A790720
  • Avago A7900
  • Apple 338S120L
    
    
• A super-awesome thanks to the Chipworks team for helping us decode and discern these delightful devices!