“Last time we had an Apple Watch on our teardown table, we encountered the tiniest tri-point screw we’d ever seen. So tiny, in fact, that we had to file down our tiniest bit to finish our teardown,” Kay Clapp writes for iFixit. “So when Apple announced the Apple Watch Series 2, we expected things to get even tinier. (Spoiler alert: they didn’t, and our screwdrivers were ready this time.)”
“For the most part, the Series 2 is a typical 2nd-revision Apple device — looks almost exactly the same on the outside, but it’s super refined and a bit easier to work with on the inside,” Clapp writes. “The old standard S1 System-in-Package processing unit got upgraded to the S2, and in the process was flipped completely over. Now all of those pesky soldered connections are actually on the same side of the board as the things they connect to. Neat! Replacing many components will still require microsoldering, but will not require removing everything from the inside of the watch first. Tl;dr, this Apple watch is slightly less disposable.”
“With the glue stripped from the back of the battery, we get a closer look at its impressive specs. This cell is rated at 3.77 V and 273 mAh to yield a whopping 1.03 Whr of power. Our watch is the 38 mm—the 42 mm should feature a larger power pack. For those of you keeping score, this battery offers a full 32% increase in power over the previous generation—most likely to compensate for the addition of GPS capability,” iFixit reports. “With the Taptic Engine extracted, we inspect the antenna module found tucked away at the top of the watch. We suspect that the more complicated look of this small assembly is due to the addition of a GPS antenna. It is a tiny component, but the difference is notable when compared to the first Apple Watch.”
Read more – and see all of the photos – in the full teardown here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple Watch Series 2 is both an industrial design and an engineering work of art!
If iFisIt had their way, the Apple Watch would have a back plane and circuit cards for every single function and ZIF mounted individual transistors for every circuit so that every thing could be easily repairable for someone wearing boxing gloves. Oh, I forgot the display: they would have it with seven segment display modules with every segment being replaceable ZIF mounted LEDs.
iFixit are so against miniaturization and always give Apple poor evaluations for their innovative efforts.
I agree. But sometimes the monolithic IC and SMT solutions cause serious problems. The Mac Pro is a good example. One very elegant piece of microelectronics packaging. Almost zero expandability for the MB.