Tearing Down The Apple Watch

Recently, well-known foreign team iFixit disassembled in less than five hours to get Apple watches time Apple successfully dismantling a 38mm version of the watch movement.

Today is Apple Watch D-Day for a speedy few early adopters, with Cupertino finally shipping the first batch of its debut wearable to buyers.  That means it’s also the day that serial repairers/tenacious teardowners iFixit get to crack open Apple’s latest sealed box and peer inside so we don’t have to.

Their teardown of a 38mm Apple Watch Sport and a 42mm Apple Watch steel are currently in progress - you can follow the painfully detailed dissection here.

One nugget of intel they’ve managed to prise out of the back of the dinky wrist computer so far is that Apple is not making it easy to swap out the S1 processor chip that powers the watch.

That may sound pretty obvious but there have been suggestions Apple could offer an upgrade program for the Watch — offering processor upgrades as a way for the smartwatch to stand the test of time vs less smart (but more long-lived) luxury watches with which it competes for wrist real-estate.

However iFixit’s findings suggest those rumors are wide of the mark (albeit, this finding relates specifically to the lowest priced Apple Watch Sport model).

The images give us the first look inside Apple Watch Sport, including a look at the Taptic Engine and Digital Crown. iFixit also notes that the antenna features Apple’s classic gold treatment as also seen on the 2015 Retina MacBook, giving even the entry-level Apple Watch Sport a hint of luxury.

Furthermore, the teardown images show the internals of the Apple Watch compared to the internals of a classic mechanical watch. The teardown experts point out that while the required tools to repair an Apple Watch are different from those required for a mechanical watch, the process will not be easy and will most likely require an expert.

The battery of the Apple Watch is right on top once the display is removed. The battery is also only slightly adhered to the inside of the device, which means it comes out relatively easily.

iFixit’s teardown is ongoing, so head to their site for high-resolution images and more notes as they become available.