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iFixit's iPhone 16 Teardown Reveals Game-Changing Battery Removal Process

(Friday September 27, 2024 @11:30PM (BeauHD) from the repairability-wins dept.)


iFixit's iPhone 16 [1]teardown revealed a [2]new battery removal process that does away with the usual pull tabs , instead opting for an adhesive that debonds when exposed to a low electrical current. "It only takes about a minute and a half for it to come unstuck," reports Engadget, citing Apple's [3]repair guide . iFixit tech Shahram Mokhtari said, "I'm not sure we've ever had a battery removal process go so cleanly and smoothly." From the report:

> Only the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus have the new adhesive, and they've earned a 7/10 on iFixit's repairability scale. "Apple definitely seems to be leveling up on repairability," Mokhtari, adding Apple has "landed another repairability win" with this year's base iPhones thanks to the new battery removal procedure.

Further reading: [4]iPhone's 80% Charge Cap Barely Boosts Battery Life, Year-Long Test Reveals



[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6jBXI6CR9s

[2] https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/see-the-iphone-16s-game-changing-battery-removal-process-in-new-ifixit-teardown-213911136.html

[3] https://support.apple.com/en-us/120642

[4] https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/24/09/26/1724238/iphones-80-charge-cap-barely-boosts-battery-life-year-long-test-reveals



Electrical debonding (Score:1)

by Anonymous Coward

Apparently this technology has been invented many years ago, I never knew it existed. Pretty cool I have to say.

Re: (Score:2)

by geekmux ( 1040042 )

> Apparently this technology has been invented many years ago, I never knew it existed. Pretty cool I have to say.

Years old technology that Apple suddenly decided to start using? Are they telling us something, using it on hardware that is perhaps expected to be replaced sooner? I’ll reserve my excitement until the Why is clarified. I hope we didn’t just see the beginning of a 12-15 month battery life.

Re: (Score:3)

by Geoffrey.landis ( 926948 )

Wow. I'd never heard about that. That's pretty cool.

Re: (Score:2)

by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) *

We already know what they do when nobody can look:

[1]https://arstechnica.com/securi... [arstechnica.com]

[1] https://arstechnica.com/security/2023/12/exploit-used-in-mass-iphone-infection-campaign-targeted-secret-hardware-feature/

I'm Not That Impressed (Score:5, Insightful)

by organgtool ( 966989 )

> It only takes about a minute and a half for it to come unstuck

I'm old enough to remember mobile phones that could have their battery replaced by just sliding it out. No need to surgically remove the screen and apply electrical current to debond the battery. Of course, those phones were a little thicker at the time and manufacturers needed to make them thinner so that they aren't so chonky in their case. And the case is now necessary because newer phones are enclosed within glass, the only material available for housing smartphones. It's amazing how many incredible technologies have been invented or integrated to solve the problems created by phone manufacturers.

Re: I'm Not That Impressed (Score:1)

by hjf ( 703092 )

this argument again and again. why are people so obsessed with replacing the phone battery? my phone's are completely busted after 3 years.

Re: (Score:2)

by StormReaver ( 59959 )

> ...my phone's are completely busted after 3 years.

1) You need a better phone. If your phone is not lasting at LEAST five years, the phone was, is, and always will be trash.

2) Lithium Ion batteries are known to be defective from time to time, and they need to be replaced.

Snapping off the back cover, replacing the bad battery, and snapping on the back cover is the ONLY acceptable way to replace a battery. Apple gets no points at all in my book for this. It's like giving an abuser points for switching from a steel baton to a wooden baseball bat.

Re: I'm Not That Impressed (Score:2)

by ToasterMonkey ( 467067 )

> Snapping off the back cover, replacing the bad battery, and snapping on the back cover is the ONLY acceptable way to replace a battery. Apple gets no points at all in my book for this. It's like giving an abuser points for switching from a steel baton to a wooden baseball bat.

Only acceptable way, ok, if you say so.

I'd love to be able to press a button to eject a wheel with a flat tire right off my car. We don't bitch about that being harder than it needs to be.

Shit, try changing your car's oil yourself. It used to be a rite of passage to manhood and all cars need it, nobody is really asking for that to be easier. And who gives a fuck, just bring it to jiffy lube.

Certainly a lot of things could be easier than they are, but sitting down at the kitchen table for thirty minutes and

Real innovation (Score:3)

by bussdriver ( 620565 )

Instead of a complex chemical process that takes energy... how about they finally make the phone CASE the battery? everybody puts a case on the phone and they make them stupidly thin knowing it'll go into a case. Why not remove the battery and make the phone even more thin by moving the battery into the phone's protective case?

choose your own level of battery capacity along with the type and size of case.

Re: I'm Not That Impressed (Score:1)

by io333 ( 574963 )

I've been prying out glued in phone batteries with a screwdriver for over a decade. Sometimes it catches fire, so what, no big deal. When I put it all back together it's sans glue, and works just fine, for years. I dont get why it's glued in to begin with, except to keep people from easily replacing them.

Re: I'm Not That Impressed (Score:2)

by ToasterMonkey ( 467067 )

> I'm old enough to remember mobile phones that could have their battery replaced by just sliding it out. No need to surgically remove the screen and apply electrical current to debond the battery. Of course, those phones were a little thicker at the time and manufacturers needed to make them thinner so that they aren't so chonky in their case. And the case is now necessary because newer phones are enclosed within glass, the only material available for housing smartphones. It's amazing how many incredible technologies have been invented or integrated to solve the problems created by phone manufacturers.

Got my first cellular in 2000, and have never replaced a battery in a phone with a removable battery once in my life.

Probably because we'd replace them every two years free* with a new two year contract.

Every two years mobile phone technology improved leaped and bounds so there really was no reason to hang onto one long enough for the battery to age much. Thats what I remember.

My phone still impresses me.... (Score:2)

by Excelcia ( 906188 )

I have a Fairphone FP5. A back that still unsnaps. Removeable battery. MicroSD slot. Modular design that unsnaps or unscrews. One small philips screwdriver will take my phone down to pieces, including the removable screen.

Android, LineageOS, or /e/OS. Take your pick. Unlockable and re-lockable bootloader. Guaranteed for 5 major Android revisions.

You can get the phone you want. Just insist on it.

Change battery in this it's-not-a-game manner! (Score:3)

by JamesTRexx ( 675890 )

And all it takes is a few seconds! Unbelievable!

1) detach back cover

2) pull out old battery

3) insert new battery

4) attach back cover

Courtesy of the Samsung Xcover 7. I fix it score 10/10.

So is the delamination reversible? (Score:2)

by rapjr ( 732628 )

The aluminum electrode is oxidized during the delamination process. When putting in a new battery does reversing the current reverse this oxidation? Or is the aluminum electrode permanentaly ruined? I'd guess it's reversible, otherwise why would Apple go to the trouble of using this. Maybe it requires a special tool to apply even pressure on the battery?

Re: (Score:2)

by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

> The aluminum electrode is oxidized during the delamination process. When putting in a new battery does reversing the current reverse this oxidation? Or is the aluminum electrode permanentaly ruined? I'd guess it's reversible, otherwise why would Apple go to the trouble of using this. Maybe it requires a special tool to apply even pressure on the battery?

No, it doesn't. Reversing the current just puts the sticky side on the other surface (i.e., the phone).

Use Apple's recommendations for the current and the s

> The day people think linux would be better served by somebody else (FSF
> being the natural alternative), I'll "abdicate". I don't think that
> it's something people have to worry about right now - I don't see it
> happening in the near future. I enjoy doing linux, even though it does
> mean some work, and I haven't gotten any complaints (some almost timid
> reminders about a patch I have forgotten or ignored, but nothing
> negative so far).
>
> Don't take the above to mean that I'll stop the day somebody complains:
> I'm thick-skinned (Lasu, who is reading this over my shoulder commented
> that "thick-HEADED is closer to the truth") enough to take some abuse.
> If I weren't, I'd have stopped developing linux the day ast ridiculed me
> on c.o.minix. What I mean is just that while linux has been my baby so
> far, I don't want to stand in the way if people want to make something
> better of it (*).
>
> Linus
>
> (*) Hey, maybe I could apply for a saint-hood from the Pope. Does
> somebody know what his email-address is? I'm so nice it makes you puke.
(Taken from Linus's reply to someone worried about the future of Linux)