C1 modem in the Teardown: iFixit opens iPhone 16E

How well will the brand new iPhone 16E be repaired? The well-known US repair service provider Ifixit has now devoted himself to this question and is temporarily coming to a decent result: 7 out of 10 possible points in the “Repairability Score” reaches the new entry-level smartphone. During the Teardowns – It is the second after the Hong Kong company Rewa Technology – however, there were some smaller and bigger surprises.

Advertisement

More flex cable security, less parts pairing

So Apple could have received a better repair value if the group would make it easier to get frequently broken components. This includes, for example, the USB-C connection, which you only reach after disassembly of numerous other components. However, it is positive, according to IFIXIT, that Apple has liked to mitigate flexible flex cables using metal clips and mitigate the annoying parts pairing.

With this, components are diligent with the respective iPhone – exchanging them against “foreign components”, there are error messages. The Teardown from Rewa Technology showed that the Parts pairing is apparently no longer so harsh, in which an iPhone-16e screen was brought up in an iPhone 14 without any problems.

C1 divided into modem and transceiver

Apple's modem chip C1, probably the most exciting part on the iPhone 16E, was also examined by IFIXIT. A decapping was carried out in cooperation with the market analysis company Yole Group. The package structure should correspond to that of Qualcomm. The 4-nm modem integrates dram. The 7-nm transceiver is not in the modem package. Otherwise Apple continues its strategy to replace more and more chips on the main board with its own developments. Next are WLAN and Bluetooth chips.

Overall, according to IFIXIT, the 16e is an interesting but also confusing device: the most modern Apple developments such as the A18, the easily removable battery or the C1 meet the missing components such as Magsafe and old iPhone-14 design. Everyone interested has to decide whether you should spend 700 euros for this. You can find the Mac & i test of the new device here.