The experts at iFixit took apart the current budget smartphone Apple iPhone 16e and came to the conclusion that its repairability has increased compared to the main line of iPhone 16. The company successfully balanced new solutions and a design that is easy to repair. In addition, the battery capacity has increased to 4005 mAh, while the iPhone 16 had 3561 mAh.
Image source: ifixit.com
Following in the footsteps of the mainstream smartphones, the iPhone 16e battery comes off when exposed to electric current. iFixit previously released the VoltClip device, which, when connected to a 12V supply, came off the battery in just 5 seconds. This is quite convenient, because batteries tend to wear out, and their convenient replacement is important. Apple promised up to 26 hours of video playback on the iPhone 16e, which means it will have a relatively low number of charge cycles and a long battery life.
Thanks to the right-to-repair laws adopted in the US states of Oregon and Colorado, Apple has relaxed software restrictions on replacing components – there were no problems with the original ones. Apple iPhone 16e was deprived of MagSafe in favor of wireless Qi charging with a power of 7.5 W, but iFixit engineers found a positive side to this: last year they found that charging via MagSafe is 35% – 113.7% less efficient than wired charging. Inefficient chargers waste 17.54 kWh per year – this is like a 10 W LED lamp working for 73 days straight, the experts said. In addition, wireless charging heats up the battery, and its temperature is maintained above 30 ° C, which, according to Battery University, is detrimental to durability. At the same time, low charging speed can accelerate battery degradation.
An important innovation of the iPhone 16e was the Apple C1 modem developed by the manufacturer itself, which replaced the Qualcomm SDX71M. iFixit examined it using a CT scanner, which showed a 4-nm modem with DRAM on the bottom side of the RF board and a 7-nm transceiver on the back. In accordance with European standards, Apple equipped the iPhone 16e with a USB Type-C connector and even published a repair guide for the charging port, which iFixit described as a procedure not for the faint of heart: it requires removing the back glass, front camera, earpiece speaker, battery, Taptic Engine module, lower speaker, microphone, SIM card assembly, and then lifting the motherboard. Finally, there is no longer a Home button, which iFixit took positively: this fragile component was often damaged, without it the design became simpler, and the number of repair problems was reduced.
While awaiting parts delivery, the Apple iPhone 16e received a preliminary repairability rating of 7 out of 10, just like the main iPhone 16 lineup. Repairmen praised the “dual-input design” inherited from the iPhone 14, as well as the increased battery life due to the Apple C1 modem, but gave a negative rating to the increased price of the device.