iFixit has completed one of its famous Teardowns on the new iPod Touch, which Apple is claiming to be "the best iPod Touch yet."
Apple is adding certain new features to the sixth generation iPod Touch that come from the company's latest iPhone 6, and iFixit's Teardown of the device reveals its interior components and how easy it is for users to perform self-repair operations on the new iPod Touch.
The iPod Touch 6th Generation packs the same A8 processor and M8 coprocessor as Apple's flagship smartphone, the iPhone 6. The device has a 4-inch Retina display with a 1,136 x 640 pixel resolution, an 8MP, 1080p rear-facing camera and a 1.2MP, 720p Facetime camera. Available colors for the device include gold, pink, blue, red, space gray and silver.
After iFixit runs the iPod Touch through an x-ray, the Teardown begins using iFixit's opening procedure of heating the display panel to loosen the adhesive and then using a tool to separate it from the device's body. Afterwards, the EMI shield of the iPod Touch is extracted, revealing an interior that looks similar to the one of the previous iPod Touch, which was launched in 2012.
The new iPod Touch features a 3.83V, 3.99Wh battery with a 1,043 mAh rating, compared to the 3.7V, 3.8Wh battery with a 1,030 mAh rating in the previous version of the device.
After removing the battery, the lower assembly is the next component to be removed. The lower assembly contains the speaker, Lightning connector, microphone, home button switch and headphone jack. A few connectors are then popped off to separate the rear case assembly from everything else.
The camera of the iPod Touch is then removed. While both the new iPod Touch and the iPhone 6 pack an 8MP camera with equal pixel counts, the iPod Touch camera does not have auto image stabilization and a sapphire crystal lens.
The front panel, along with the front-facing camera, is then removed, with iFixit then looking at the various chips that power up the new iPod Touch. Of note are the 1GB RAM also found in the iPhone 6, but underclocked at 1.10 GHz per core, a Toshiba 128GB NAND Flash, and a variation on the iPhone 6's Power Management IC.
Overall, the iPod Touch 6th Generation was given a repairability score of 4 out of 10, with 10 being the easiest to repair. While the battery being put in place using pull tabs would make it easier to replace it if needed, the many soldered components make it very difficult and expensive to have certain parts replaced. With no external screws, the case is difficult to open, and ribbon cables from the logic board make it difficult to remove the board and disconnect its cables.
