14 DAY TRIAL // iFixit has torn down the iPad 2, giving it a repairability score of 4 out of 10 after concluding that anyone attempting to pry it open without professional guidance is likely to shatter its screen. Other findings include the huge battery modules, and impressively well crammed circuitry and chips.
The iPad’s touch panel is not fastened with clips, but rather with “tons of glue” according to the savvy bunch, who had to heat the iPad up in order to get it opened.
“As much as we hated trying to remove the clips in the original iPad, this much adhesive is even more of a pain,” the technicians note.
“Be ready to crack your front panel if you dare open it!” they warn, but promise to investigate new ways to get inside the tablet without damaging it.
After lifting off the LCD, the team was able to take a good look at the 3.8V, 25 Watt-hour battery unit which, according to iFixit, is “just a hair more than the original iPad's 24.8 Watt-hours, so any improved battery performance can be attributed to software and other hardware improvements.”
Notable ICs on the logic board include Broadcom BCM5973KFBGH Microcontroller used for touchscreen; Broadcom BCM5974 CKFBGH capacitive touchscreen controller - the same combination as on the original iPad, according to the tinkerers.
“Interestingly, the Wi-Fi board is attached to the logic board under one of the EMI shields. It can be easily pried off its socket,” according to the teardown analysis.
Saving the best for last, notable chips found on the logic board include:
- The one and only Apple 1GHz A5 dual-core Processor with a 200MHz bus. iFixit also confirmed our initial belief that the chip packs 512 MB of RAM.
- Toshiba TH58NVG7D2FLA89 16GB NAND Flash
- Apple 343S0542, which seems to be the same Dialog Semi power management chip found in the original tablet, or so say all the inductors and capacitors surrounding it
- Apple-branded 338S0940 A0BZ1101 SGP, seemingly the Cirrus audio codec Chipworks found in the Verizon iPhone.
