Teardown reveals a useful change inside iPad Pro's 5.1mm super-thin chassis

Apple's M4 iPad Pro and M2 iPad Air went on sale earlier this week. The flagship models pack the Cupertino giant's freshly baked M4 chip and the Tandem OLED display but leave the Apple Stickers behind.

The repair website iFixit has published its teardown of the 13-inch iPad Pro, revealing what's hiding inside its super-thin 5.1 mm chassis. Apple claimed during its announcement that the 13-inch iPad Pro (now lighter than the iPad Air) is the thinnest device the company has ever launched, including the iPod Nano.

This year's iPad Pro might improve the aftersales experience for the users and repair technicians. iFixit said, "There’s something truly remarkable inside this device that Apple didn’t mention. This iPad has a repair-friendly change that could save hours in repair time."

In the video about eight minutes in length, the presenter starts removing the iPad Pro's screen by placing it on a heat mat. He then uses a prying tool to remove the screen, followed by a series of screws, connectors, brackets, and cables. Four bracketing cables hold the iPad Pro's screen in place, two for each OLED panel.

The presenter then tries to pull out the battery by removing multiple pull tabs blocked by an aluminum lip. "It's a bit annoying to have to do this to get to the only truly consumable part in this device," the presenter said commenting on the aluminum lip. However, these pull tabs make the job of removing the battery a lot easier.

"Alright, so despite the hassle of getting to those pull tabs, the fact that you can remove the battery without having to remove every major component inside this device is still a huge win for repairability. It's a massive improvement over the previous generations," he added.

Having a super thin 5.1 mm chassis on the iPad Pro also means a smaller battery. The teardown reveals a 38.99 Wh battery inside the 13-inch iPad Pro, a bit smaller than the 6th generation's 40.33 Wh. The credit goes to the power efficiency of the M4 chip. Apple claims that the M4 chip can deliver the same performance as M2 using just half the power.

Image: Apple Pencil Pro/iFixit

The presenter also dismantled the Apple Pencil Pro further down the teardown video, revealing components such as the Taptic Engine at the top, two sets of magnets at the center, logic board, and battery.

Previous teardowns have suggested Apple is gradually leaning towards DIY repair-friendly products but Apple's $129 stylus for iPad may not be one of them.

iFixit calls Apple Pencil Pro a "disposable" tech because the battery is irreplaceable due to its sealed design. Even the pencil itself is left in a state after the teardown that it can not be put back together.

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