The iFixit iPhone Teardown: Which Model Was the Least Repairable?
When Apple releases a new handset, you can be pretty sure that an iFixit iPhone teardown soon follows. To celebrate the iPhone’s 10th anniversary, iFixit has posted photos and repairability scores for every iPhone produced.
Calling the January 2007 iPhone introduction a “game changer,” iFixit notes that “modern phones owe a ton to that first little device.”
To date, there have been 15 iPhone models. Of these, the original iPhone received the poorest repairability score (2/10). The other 14 models received at least a score of 6/10. The last few handsets, including the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, received scores of 7/10.
In a summary, iFixit explains:
iPhones have become taller, wider, and skinnier. But they’ve also become more repairable. The very first iPhone earned a dismal 2/10 on our repairability scale. It had a soldered battery and was almost impossible to open without breaking the case. Repairability improved radically from there—jumping to a 7/10 for the iPhone 3G. And the phones have remained relatively repair-friendly since. The most recent iPhone offering, the iPhone 7, earned a respectable 7/10 on our scale in 2016.
As a long-time iPhone owner, I’ve always enjoyed examining iFixit’s latest teardown. Each report is informative, comprehensive, and oh so fun.
The first iPhone was announced on Jan. 9, 2007. It debuted on June 29, 2007.
If you like tech device teardowns, you’ll definitely want to see iFixit’s “10 Years of iPhone” report.
For more on the iPhone's 10th anniversary, see:
