iPhone 15 Teardown: A Microscopic Look Inside The iPhone 15

Today we’re taking an up close look at the iPhone 15, and I mean up close. We had a couple of partners on this teardown. Thanks to Evident Scientific we had a microscope in the office this year, and all our zoomed in shots came from the DSX1000 they kindly allowed us to borrow. And as always our friends at Creative Electron provided us with a preview of the innards of the iPhone 15 through the magic of x-ray vision.
www.evidentscientific.com/en/
creativeelectron.com/
In case you missed it, we already did our teardown of the iPhone 15 Pro Max, complete with a detailed blog post analysis, repairability score, x-rays, and fancy pants wallpapers. Go check that out if you haven’t already.
Our iPhone 15 Pro Max Teardown
• iPhone 15 Pro Max Tear...
iPhone 15 Wallpapers
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Keep all your repairs organized with our FixMat
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Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:24 iPhone 15 Teardown Partnerships
00:47 Removing Back Cover With Microscope footage!
01:15 iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 Comparison
01:31 Microscope footage of Battery Connector
01:42 Taptic Engine and Speaker Removal
02:12 Battery Removal and Specs
02:47 Camera Removal and Deep Dive
03:44 Logic Board Removal
04:02 USB-C Removal
04:18 Teardown Overview and Final Thoughts!
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[@Andrew-Andre]

Thank you for calling out parts paring and incorporating it into your repairability score!

[@jlrpc]

Why is this that much important? And why is it now and not before?

[@CED.Dweller]

Ditto to the thanks!

[@korysovec]

@@jlrpc Even original parts will not work correctly when changed on an iPhone. You need to pair them through software, which Apple does not make public, leaving everyone stuck with needing to go to Apple for their "repairs", where they offer you a new device instead making more waste. Apple has been doing this for a long time and incorporating it to the score was a long time overdue. It's one of the worst anti-consumer and anti-repair practices currently done by basically anyone.

[@ivovass195]

The close up of the camera sensor shift stabilizer was awesome, loved to see the spring system, such tiny yet functional mechanisms. The added really really close ups are a great addition to the teardowns, keep it up

[@catbird33]

Yeah, I never would have imagined using a tiny spring system for the stabilizer.

[@RestoreTechnique]

Brilliant video, so cool seeing stuff under the microscope

[@Khal337]

Always love hearing this man's voice

[@_stardust__]

Incredible improvement with the introduction of the microscope shots! Keep up the good work.

[@Pro_Tech01]

this should be the standard way of teardown from now on! very cool

[@itprotechs]

Fantastic work, we appreciate the details of this tear down. 🎉

[@ChrisJohnson-ht3gx]

I was listening to the radio and a rep for the Pixel 8 and pixel 8+ will go 7 yrs with updates. A question was asked about getting the phone fixed and I fix it’s name came up. I’m guessing companies are starting to listen to you. Great work!

[@FriedChairs]

Great job with the editing on this video!

[@NinPossible]

3:32 Finally! Thank you so much for the comparison!

[@cubiq1]

Incredible video. You deserve 10x the number of subscribers!

[@Balancinglife]

Those zoom ins were ASTONISHING 😧

[@dav2mai]

Phenomenal detailed shots!

[@GameTL]

One of the coolest ifixit video yet

[@chrisk3754]

Very cool-love the detail and analysis of dees tings bro.

[@superNova5837]

If you continue the magnified shots please do one for the “Super Actua display” on the pixel 8 Pro

[@ropro9817]

Loved all the super close ups! ❤

[@nityanandagouda27]

very informative, thanks a lot sir.

[@Pikminiman]

I hope we get more microscopic footage in future.

[@TruthWarriorB88]

Keep up the good work.

[@carlsoll]

*SO Cool* Came back for this one ☝️ You know your stuffff *subscribed*

[@cambofixing]

good explain

[@MikeSyE]

ifixit enjoyed the microscope a little to much hahahhaa

[@Filmfreak1999]

great Video as always

[@TechnoBoomer]

Thanks for the video. Being a Pixel user and as Google claims having partnered with iFixit,I am expectating the Pixel 8 Pro teardown ! See U. François (From Paris)

[@Saidul0_0]

whoaaa thats amzing !!

[@youngnk4982]

Thank you ❤

[@PlutoTheSynth]

he says "enhance" like "in hans"

[@BSingh-on4qr]

Can we use the iPhone 15 USB C port parts on older iPhones to modify them to be USB C instead of lightning

[@ds15891]

Does it have the x70 modem like the pro model? No one on the internet has a definitive answer!

[@Drew1218s]

I am wondering this too

[@Darsh0606]

Yea probably does

[@anoopmohanan3944]

Yes it does according to max tech KZbin channel

[@drsembee]

Interesting the difference between the two 48Mpix sensors: what about the iphone 14 pro? Does it mount the same sensor of iphone 15 or the iphone 15 pro?

[@MobileiRepair]

Thanks you for showing how to tear down iPhone new model without your video I could not tear down 😂😂

[@mh0095]

Production level is different level from ifixit

[@chromaperipheral]

Really neat informative teardown, but I never knew the word ‘vanilla’ in reference to tech got under people’s skin so much lol what’s that about

[@heyspookyboogie644]

I was always annoyed by the adhesive around the glass until I saw a phone where someone had opened it but not replaced the adhesive and it had dust everywhere including behind all the camera lenses front and back.

[@urbananalrapist]

It would work the same if the phone had a rubber gasket all along the edge and some screws along the perimeter to hold the back panel in place.

[@chriswong4479]

Does the iphone 15 use the new stacked sensor tech from Sony as rumoured?

[@peterthepanda]

Still deserves an automatic 0/10 repairability score because of parts pairing and software locks.

[@DoubleU555]

Software locks can eventually be hacked/removed. 4/10 is pretty fair for a device that is pretty repairable hardware wise. 0/10 is reserved for things like AirPods.

[@Ebalosus]

The serialisation thing drives me nuts, because it’s hard to parse to customers why it’s bad for both them and the environment. I will explain that if I, an independent Apple tech, replaces their front camera array in their iPhone (for example) their FaceID will stop working. I could take another front camera array out of a brand-new iPhone and put it in their iPhone and get the same result. If they then take their iPhone into an official Apple Store or an Apple Authorised Repair Store, even with a replacement front camera array from an brand new iPhone, it’ll appear in their system as a "third-party component." The customer will then come back to me and complain that I "didn’t use an Official Apple Part™️" even though is technically *is,* but due to Apple’s part serialisation, it 'isn't.'

[@anianii]

Software pairing does not prevent you from doing repairs for the most part. So 4/10 is very reasonable, if not even on the low end.

[@amentco8445]

​@@anianiifor the most part.. this is the dirt you're allowing them to push you into.

[@its_argho]

Not an apple fan, but parts pairing is absolutely essential and the only way to prevent theft and black marketing. You probably live in a well developed and furnished city, where I am from there are literal black markets selling entire iphones and other phones and parts for dirt cheap in the open. Even the police turns a blind eye. You will be shocked if you count the number of phones/parts they keep in stock. Most of these come from stolen phones and some are directly smuggled from an iPhone assembly factory nearby. On average there are as many as a million units being sold every month. Serialising the component components makes sure even if you frankenstein a phone it won’t work properly, thus keeping these thieves out of business. Edit- Even some local repair shops source spare parts from these markets. I wouldn’t be surprised if I learned that these repair shops have some hand in the stealing game.

[@iamseanb17]

Interesting teardown, just one question if its not using the same camera sensor as the pro models (IMX 803) does it mean it still uses the same sensor as last years 14? cause they seem to be pretty much the same in terms of physical size externally and apple is just using software to upscale it to 48mp?

[@Andrew-Andre]

Last year’s base 14 didn’t use a quad pixel design. A 48mp quad pixel sensor can combine the separate photo-sites to create a 12mp file, but even when reading out at the full 48mp the sensor is not capturing the same amount of colour detail as a traditional 48mp bayer pixel array. Even if it could, such small lenses would struggle to resolve the detail. The base 15 sensor does not appear to be the same as the base 14. Interestingly, the sensor in the pixel 7 and 8 is still much larger than that in the base iPhone 15. Computational stacking of frames can make up for this, but Apple doesn’t give you computational “Raw” files on the non pro phones. Google does.

[@suryavanshdeweshsingh8349]

The standard iPhone 14 having 1/1.7 size now this is 1/1.56 size so it’s pretty much good and I thik it is a stacked sony sensor this time with bigger aperture than 15 pros

[@78bakelit]

The Fairphone 4 is the best for repair.

[@haipingzhang5628]

well ,we launched soft oled screen for iphone 13 pro max etc

[@varunverma921]

any info on modem used in basic iphone ??

[@billx4266]

So they say that the regular iphone 15 got the 48 mp sensor from the 14 pro max, so the 15 pro max sensor has a different one? A newer one?

[@Wolf_1992]

I asked myself that question too. can someone answer that?

[@aimbuster1]

thx

[@funny-yu5cb]

What imu chip iphone use

[@FirdausAmir]

Perfectly score, apple need to fix that parts pairing bullshit

[@Flexin010]

Keep doing this 🤤

[@ScottSchramm]

Please stop saying "vanilla"

[@shubham6234]

how to check display is 60hz or 120 hz in iphone 15 & iphone 15 plus … i mean apple can force phone to 60 hz by software

[@oposkainaxei]

Why are the naming the iPhone vanilla?

[@manjunatha1967]

hi ,,iphone 13 pro max is that repairable ,just is not on

[@os2171]

Vanilla? Can anyone explain?

[@Wannes_]

Short for "plain vanilla", like "plain" , "ordinary" , so: the baseline model iPhone 15

[@Jbrimbelibap]

1:24 Congratulations, you bought the same phone twice.

[@Anshuman490]

I am all in for the part pairing thing that apple does. This discourages the phone stealers to steal an iphone as compared to android and make it a bit more safe. I understand that this is a problem but instead of removing the part pairing, i feel that this part pairing things needs to be managed even better. I am all open for inputs on this thought.😊

[@alonzohaskell9634]

Instead entities in China developed tools to workaround part pairing for parts like screen and stolen iphone logic board became a cheap option for chips transplant from a broken logic board. This might only make stealers less profitable

[@Anshuman490]

@@alonzohaskell9634 yeah I under nothing is full proof. But make it as hard as possible for stealers so that stealing iPhones become less and less profitable compared to the risks.

[@dj00777]

Which modem used in iPhone 15 ???? X65 or x70

[@dj00777]

Reply

[@zero-zero-2755]

Enhance.

[@Garythefireman66]

Parts pairing is the sleaziest thing about iPhones 🤔

[@Darsh0606]

Does the 15 plus have the same internals?

[@iFixitYourself]

Very similar. Check our wallpaper page for shots of the internals: www.ifixit.com/News/83229/iphone-15-wallpapers

[@mbtech9513]

I disagree. Forget the warning n software locks. The question is how easy it to swap parts. I guess that’s what repair is all about

[@Guuzaka]

1:20 Looks similar alright. 👀 2:34 Ooooooooooooooooon! 😝 5:02 A shame about the parts pairing problem. 👎🏾 Apple should let people put spare parts in without blocking them by means of software. 👎🏾

[@AnweshAdhikari]

❤️

[@michae1601]

Good work but I really don't care about repairability. All the iPhone I have owned have never needed repair. Only one was the free battery for iPhone 6s

[@user-zz4gx2te8e]

these days ifixit doesn't feel interesting as it was when it was iphone 7 teardown

[@user-io9eo3sz4g]

why not 15plus all right

[@dr.python]

Why doesn't Louis Rossmann do this? He could really combine aspects of both this channel and Jerry Rigs Everything to create unique niche in repair community.

[@MrRofl131]

JackSucksAtLife should do the enhance voice!

[@michaelkalus7802]

I'm a bit mixed on the parts pairing. I can see this being a safety feature if you're concerned that someone might mess with your phone. On the other hand, those who would do that, probably have ways to get around the parts pairing so: Bad Apple, no donut.

[@ThexBorg]

Self-Repair at own risk.

[@draz9765]

I hope those are your fingerprints inside not from the manufacturing company

[@iFixitYourself]

Guilty.

[@jedics1]

All that effort to "appear" green only to get a 4 out of 10. Poor Apple.

[@shubham.cyanred21]

OMG guys start wearing gloves!

[@iDard3n]

It seems bad but if you seen the amount of calls from 3rd party parts and repairs that resulted in fires, melting or smoke coming in to Apple you’d be nervous to open it up to be easier for people to do too

[@warrenmcclure7819]

The worst part is that there’s no reason to pair those parts. Apple talks about “being green” then does this crap

[@Slybabyfox]

Apple only wants to make it easier for themselves to repair iPhones, otherwise the market will be flooded with refurbished iPhones.

[@Fammy__]

今のiPhoneって後ろ開けで画面割ったら終わりなんやな(((( ；ﾟДﾟ)))ｶﾞｸｶﾞｸﾌﾞﾙﾌﾞﾙ

[@user-ld1xn5ig7y]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@ArjotGill]

I could be better if it was asmr

[@uuuuuusssseeerrrrrrr]

7th

[@tomfranchesco]

2/10

[@Baruch_Yosef]

First 😂

[@wcr6121]

This is a very TATE-like accent!

[@cameredith0]

after seeing, It's clear iphones are not worth retail price

[@petilee1]

Please don't use "vanilla" man... for some reason so irritating i can't explain why but if u planned more interesting video in the future like this and I hear this "vanilla" despite the content I will just leave

[@Daniil0011]

What’s up with the ‘vanilla’ 14 and 15 nonsense? Is that some kind of meme🫠

[@juanpablogger]

Same question! What’s up with that?

[@tatoom40]

Basically Vanilla = Base iPhone this is to differentiate from plus and pros.