GoKawiil
Tech News
iFixit has rated the latest Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, along with AirPods 5, as difficult to repair, with scores of 4 and 2 out of 10 respectively. While the Apple Watch Series 12 shows slight improvements over previous models, battery replacement remains a significant challenge. The teardown highlights ongoing issues with repair accessibility and potential non-compliance with US right-to-repair laws.
iFixit completed its teardown of the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, finding the Ultra 4 unchanged in repairability at 4/10 while the Series 12 showed slight gains thanks to new stretch-release adhesive and a pull tab for battery removal. Both models still require prying off a glued display to access internals, with iFixit's Shahram Mokhtari noting the Series 12's tighter display tolerances raised concern about screen damage during disassembly.
iFixit's teardown of the AirPods 5 found that the batteries in each earbud can be removed and replaced without destroying the device, provided the repair is done carefully by a skilled technician. This earned the earbuds a repairability score of 2 out of 10, the first time any AirPods model has scored above zero since the original launched in 2016. iFixit noted the left and right batteries aren't interchangeable due to reversed polarity and different contact placement, and that everything else inside the earbuds and case remains sealed and unrepairable.
iFixit tore down Apple's new iPhone 18 Pro and awarded it a 7/10 repairability rating, matching the iPhone 17 Pro's score. The teardown found the camera and battery assemblies relatively easy to remove, though the phone's new variable aperture lens—its first in an iPhone—uses tiny rotating blades that iFixit says are nearly impossible to repair individually.
iFixit tore down Apple's new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max to examine the variable aperture camera, which uses six overlapping blades roughly as thin as a human hair. The team called the mechanism a precision engineering feat but warned it leaves almost no margin for error during repairs, likely requiring full module replacement if damaged.
iFixit's teardown of the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max found Apple's first variable aperture camera, using six hair-thin blades that slide with high precision to control light intake. The report also revealed a new chip packaging layout that places the A20 Pro processor beside its memory rather than stacked, separating memory from the chip's heat path, and noted that three of four test units cracked their display frames during battery removal.
iFixit's teardown of the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max exposes the new variable aperture lens, which uses six overlapping blades thinner than a human hair to control light via a magnetic mechanism. The site praises the engineering that fits this system into the same camera footprint as last year's model, but warns the mechanism is essentially impossible to repair if it fails.
iFixIt disassembled four units of the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max and found that the plastic frame behind the display broke on three of them during removal. Since Apple doesn't sell that frame as a standalone part, a cracked one means replacing the entire display module. Separately, YouTuber Zach Nelson's own teardown didn't encounter the same issue and he rated the phone favorably for repairability.
iFixit's teardown of the iPhone 18 Pro examined the new variable aperture system, an under-display Face ID infrared camera, and a larger vapor chamber. During disassembly, a tiny aperture blade popped loose, suggesting that any malfunction in the mechanism would likely force a full replacement of the main camera assembly rather than a simple fix.
Trump Mobile has increased the price of its gold-colored T1 Phone from $499 to $749, a change first spotted by The Verge after the company silently updated its website without any public announcement. The new price makes the T1 costlier than Apple's iPhone 17e.