The iPhone 15 series has received the official iFixit teardown treatment, and the results are mixed. The 15 Pro models have finally received an updated internal design where you can now directly remove the back glass without first removing the display. The internal components on the Pro models are still hidden behind the screen instead of in the back glass like on the standard iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. The big change with the 15 Pro models is that the back glass is now removable, so repairs on the back broken should be faster and easier.
iPhone 15 Pro Max
There’s an important caveat though as Apple continues to impose software limitations by pairing specific components and parts to each iPhone, making third-party repairs and even original component swaps much more difficult. iFixit recently downgraded the iPhone 14 to a repairability score of 4/10 retroactively over the parts mating limitation, and the iPhone 15 models all earn the same score with a I don’t recommend it assessment.
Looking at the process in more detail, the 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max open from the front or back but their internal components are hidden behind the screen just like all iPhones before the iPhone 14. The big change with the 15 models Pro is that the back glass is now removable, so repairs on the broken back should be quicker and easier. Note that Apple still pairs each glass with the corresponding device, so repairs will need to be validated via Apple’s System Configuration Tool.
iFixit also ran a pairing test between two identical iPhone 15 Pro Max units to see which swapped parts would work and most components would not work or send warnings.
The 15 Pro Max features a 17.1Wh battery, and the main and ultrawide camera sensors appear to be the same size as the 14 Pro Max. We’ll also see Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X70 modem handling 5G connectivity. The iPhone 15 Pro Max uses SK Hynix DDR5 memory which sits alongside the A17 Pro chipset on the main board.
You can watch the full teardown of the iPhone 15 Pro Max below.
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