iFixit Teardown Reveals It’s So Easy to Take the Back Off of the iPhone 16

Apple has done plenty of marketing to let us know it gave the iPhone 16 a massive internal redesign to dissipate heat better. In the process, it also made its devices a little easier to repair. Over the weekend, iFixit’s co-founder, Kyle Wiens, performed the usual annual teardown of Apple’s latest flagship. Wiens found out that taking the back off of the new iPhones is easy as long you have the right tool.

The adhesive around the new iPhone has an aluminum lining underneath the rail, which allows electricity to pulse through and soften the glue as it warms it up. This is cleaner to work with than the usual adhesive strips and is also resealable. It’s specifically available on the iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Plus.

This particular adhesive can be warmed at varying temperatures, and the hotter it goes, the faster it debonds. Apple says you can use up to a 30V cable to perform the electrical release. iFixit tested it with 5V, 12V, 20V, and 30V, and it also used the opportunity to show off how repairs are done with the FixHub, a part of the new soldering kit.

There are some caveats to this kind of electrically-activated adhesive. “Only time will tell how this new adhesive ages,” writes Wiens, with a link to Apple’s repair manual suggesting the adhesive could soften up over time.

The rest of the teardown covers what Apple changed internally on the iPhone 16, from cellular signal placement to a steel case around the battery. “Hard cell batteries instead of soft pouch batteries won’t get accidentally punctured by a slip of a screwdriver, and so they’re way less likely to catch fire,” says Wiens.

The iPhone 16 is also easier to get into since Apple recycled a repairability scheme from the iPhone 14. You can now enter from either side of the device to pop out the backside, which helps reduce more accidental cracks or snaps in the chassis.

The entire teardown can be seen on YouTube or embedded below.