iPhone 17 Pro teardown reveals vapor chamber internals, scratchgate details, more

Following the iPhone Air teardown, iFixit turned its eyes and its screwdrivers to the iPhone 17 Pro, and found that the device packs a combination of welcome improvements and one setback when it comes to repairability. Here are the details.

Inside the vapor chamber

Like in the teardown of the iPhone Air, iFixit’s new teardown revealed how Apple packed most of the iPhone 17 Pro’s internals in the top third of the device, leaving the rest for the battery, the USB-C port, and the Taptic Engine.

Under the CT scan, one striking component is the new vapor chamber cooling system, which iFixit peeled open to take a peek inside. The teardown shows the metal lattice and the indentations in the copper that let liquid boil, evaporate, and condense in a continuous loop, carrying heat away in the process.

Here’s what the internals of the vapor chamber looks like under the microscope:

One repairability setback they noted on the iPhone 17 Pro compared to previous models is that the device doesn’t offer a dual-entry design, which means that you cannot access components like the battery through the back glass.

On the bright side, iFixit noted that Apple adopted a removable tray for the battery, which is screwed into place (with Torx Screws, for the first time).

The battery still uses Apple’s electrically de-bonding adhesive, but the metal casing makes it both safer and easier to handle compared to previous designs.

Is scratchgate real?

Immediately after the new iPhones hit the shelves worldwide, there were some reports of scuffed-up and dinged-up iPhone 17 Pros, which suggested they might be more scratch-prone than initially thought.

iFixit took a closer look at the issue, and concluded that due to very technical particularities of the anodization process, which they went in-depth in the video below, scratchgate is real, particularly on “the sharp edge of [the] camera bump, which the anodizing doesn’t adhere to as evenly as across the rest of the phone.”

In fact, iFixit took the iPhone 17 Pro scratches and nicks under the microscope, and this is what they saw:

From the iFixit post, referring to the first to image above:

Faced with a pick the hardness of a penny, the iPhone 17 Pro’s anodized coating chips away, revealing shiny aluminum underneath.

Repairability score: 7/10

Scratchgate aside, the iPhone 17 Pro got the same 7/10 repairability score as the iPhone Air, despite having such different internal builds.

All in all, the removable battery tray was a welcome surprise and partly compensated for Apple’s return to a front–access–only design.

You can watch iFixit’s full teardown in the video below:

Check out the full teardown here.

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