iPhone 13 Pro teardown and repairability—danger averted

It is no secret that Apple has an unfriendly approach to third-party and DIY repairability when it comes to its hardware. At times, it even looks as if the products have been designed to purposefully make it more difficult for users and third-party repair shops to perform fixes.

One of the best examples of an Apple device that is notoriously allergic to repairs is the iPhone. Nevertheless, folks like those at iFixit have made it their profession to battle said allergy by opening up the iPhone and figuring it out. Now, after a teardown of the iPhone 13 Pro, it looks like there are some new hurdles to face, but at least a rumored battery swap issue has proven false.

Let us start with the bad news. First of all, the speaker grill has now been integrated into the chassis and moved away from the display to allow for that smaller notch. This in turn makes the speaker much harder to access for performing fixes or replacement.

To reach the speaker, you now have to remove the logic board, which by itself includes removing several other parts inside the iPhone 13 Pro as well. In more simple terms, reaching the earpiece speaker now includes a lot more steps than it used to. Thankfully though, it is not a common part to receive damage or be faulty.

The good news is that contrary to the rumors, you will still be able to swap the battery for a new one without receiving any issues with the phone. Unfortunately, you will still get the pesky warning notification indicating that the battery has not been authorised by Apple if you don’t get it swapped by an official representative.

The battery is probably the part that deserves utmost attention when it comes to repairability, or in this case, the ability to swap for a new one. It is easily the fastest-degrading element in a device and can noticeably affect the user experience with time, so it’s nice to see that Apple have not made it more difficult to replace than it already was.

In other words, the trade-off here seems to be surprisingly beneficial, especially given Apple’s attitude towards repairs. That being said, other hurdles from past iPhone generations persist in the iPhone 13 series, like how incredibly risky it is to damage the insides while opening the device.