If you’re looking to get to the components of the new Apple Pencil Pro, it’ll take time, patience, and an ultrasonic cutter. Apple’s new M4-based iPad Pro, on the other hand, got quite a bit easier to repair.
Per a new video teardown posted by the cool cats at iFixit, the Apple Pencil Pro required quite a bit of work and what the outfit called “destruction” of the stylus. The video shows significant changes to the design of the iPad Pro that make it more repairable, but the new Apple Pencil Pro’s design is quite the opposite.
The video cites a “massive improvement” in replacing the battery of the new iPad Pro over previous versions of the tablet, as it no longer requires removing all the other components first.
Following the iPad Pro teardown, the focus shifts to a teardown of the new Apple Pencil Pro. After trying to remove the “eraser” top of the Pencil Pro by cutting it off, the host is forced to use an ultrasonic cutter to slice open the plastic body of the stylus, rendering it un-restorable.
The device’s components are eventually removed for closer examination, and include two sets of magnets as well as an inductive charging coil.
The screws to separate the main circuit board are extremely difficult to find and remove. The taptic engine that provides the feedback on the device, however, is able to be separated from the rest of the electronics by simply breaking the micro-weld points.
Where the Apple Pencil Pro’s repairability comes into question, the video cites a “slight” improvement over the first-generation Apple Pencil, which had all its parts epoxied into the body of the device. Still, the video cites the new Apple Pencil Pro as “an unrepairable pile of e-waste” once it is disassembled. iFixit, however, does praise Apple for its general “baby steps” towards more consumer repairability overall in its recent devices.
If you’ve gotten your hands on the new Apple Pencil Pro and/or the new M4 iPad Pro, please let us know about your experience in the comments.
Via AppleInsider and iFixit