Together with the brand new titanium body and 5X optical digital camera, Apple has additionally launched one other new function with the iPhone 15 Professional and Professional Max: a central chassis that enables for the removing of the back and front glass for simpler repairability. Nevertheless, regardless of the change, iFixIt nonetheless discovered that Apple nonetheless makes it very tough for anybody aside from its personal Geniuses to restore.
First the good things. In its customary teardown, iFixit praises the iPhone 15 Professional’s detachable again glass, a “notable achievement value celebrating.” Just like the iPhone 14 final 12 months, Apple’s new chassis design means you don’t must disassemble the whole show to get on the inner elements, thus limiting the chance of additional harm.
Nevertheless, iFixit laments Apple’s “ongoing constriction of restore freedoms by way of its restrictive elements pairing system”. As the location explains, a number of elements, together with the rear Lidar digital camera, Face ID, entrance digital camera, and USB-C port are all “fully locked to the iPhone 15 Professional Max.”
When swapped out, even with Apple-certified elements, options weren’t useful and others crashed the system, elevating important limitations to repairability. So, most individuals could have no alternative however to convey their iPhone to an Apple Retailer for restore Thus, iFixit gave the iPhone 15 Professional Max a 4 out of 10 for repairability and known as on Apple to “abandon elements pairing.”
This transfer comes regardless of Apple’s Self Service Restore program that launched in 2022 and was prolonged in June 2023. This system is designed to let anybody restore their damaged iPhone at residence with Apple real elements and instruments. Nevertheless, this system is expensive and complex—and never obtainable for the iPhone 15 Professional simply but. Nonetheless, it’s why iFixit gave the iPhone 15 Professional a “4” as a substitute of a decrease rating.
Elsewhere, iFixit appreciated the USB-C port’s means to offer 4.5W of energy to exterior units in addition to the “insanely difficult, costly course of” for creating the light-weight titanium alloy body. Different findings embody affirmation that the iPhone 15 Professional makes use of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X70 5G modem and has a barely bigger battery.