14 DAY TRIAL // A teardown of the new 10.5-inch iPad Pro launched by Apple earlier this month reveals that the device is just as difficult to repair as the previous Microsoft Surface Pro model, with iFixit giving a repairability score of 2 out of 10 to both devices.
While iFixit is yet to publish a teardown of the new Surface Pro, it’s hard to believe that any big difference would be discovered in this regard, as the two models are very similar and feature hardware upgrades that shouldn’t change the under-the-hood layout in a substantial manner.
In the case of the new iPad Pro, however, iFixit notes that it discovered this model to be more similar to the 12.9-inch version than to the smaller 9.7-inch device, thus putting an end to rumors that Apple’s latest iPad is actually a scaled-up version of its little brother.
Changes made under the hood
There are some differences though, and most of them are the result of the new display that can reach a refresh rate of 120 Hz. iFixit says that Apple doubled the number of connecting cables for the display, up from just two on the original Pro model.
Additionally, the teardown also reveals that Apple has indeed installed 4GB RAM on the device (2x2GB LPDDR4), while the battery has been upgraded from 27.91Wh on the 9.7-inch iPad Pro to 30.8Wh. Storage comes in the form of flash memory supplied by Toshiba.
The new iPad Pro also uses the same camera as on the iPhone 7, while the front-facing unit features 7-megapixel resolution with 1080p video recording.
iFixit says Apple made the Smart Connector impossible to replace, but noted that there are no moving parts used on it, which means that there are only small chances to break down. On the other hand, there’s a lot of adhesive used on the new iPad, and this makes it nearly impossible to repair.
