Apple Watch Series 7 teardown
Usually, iFixit does the teardown of Apple products all by itself, but this time they got help from Instrumental. This company was founded by former Apple engineers, most of whom worked on early Apple Watch designs. The Series 7 has not been radically renewed, but some interesting facts have surfaced. Especially when it comes to the screen, Apple has changed some things. The screen is larger and more compact at the same time. And the screen looks simpler, but is at the same time more complex. This is probably also the reason why the smartwatch was delayed.
Series 7 display
The screen is glued to the case as usual and a heat source of 80°C had to be used to pry it off. The Series 7's screen is now larger, with narrower bezels. At first glance, it looks simpler than before, especially since Apple now uses an integrated OLED panel, which already includes the touch functions. In such an on-cell touch panel, the touch sensors and the OLED layers are combined, so that the final screen panel is thinner. This also gave Apple the ability to use a single flexible cable for data. Previously it was two cables.
< br> The Apple Watch Series 7 can be seen on the left, its predecessor on the right.
At the same time, such an integrated screen is more difficult to make, because of the many parts that have to be aligned.
Inside you will still find most parts in the same place and they also have the same size. The battery is larger, but that has hardly any effect since the Series 7 has a brighter screen that consumes more energy.
Here are the battery specs:
- 40mm S6: 1,024 Wh
- 41mm S7: 1,094 Wh (6.8% increase)
- 44mm S6: 1 .17 Wh
- 45mm S7: 1.189 Wh (1.6% increase)
There is no longer a diagnostic port between the battery and one of the watch strap attachment points. Apple now uses a 60.5 GHz wireless connection for diagnostics and this could be a prelude to iPhones that also no longer have ports. By omitting the diagnostic port, space was created for other components. In addition, Apple was able to make the smartwatch more dust-resistant, resulting in an IP6X rating. The updated speaker module with grille also helped with that.
Why the Apple Watch Series 7 was delayed
Apple has not given a reason why the Series 7 came later, nor was it initially given a release date. According to the Apple engineers that iFixit consulted, it will likely be related to production issues around the screen. These supply chains are often complex due to the many components, and the fact that Apple also had high ambitions to extend the screen far to the edge probably killed them.
The Apple Watch Series 7 receives a repair score of 6 out of 10 from iFixit. Taking apart the Apple Watch is not easy, but replacing the display and the Taptic Engine seem to do well. the battery is also easy to replace. A nice detail is that the Series 7 even works with the battery of the Series 6, although iFixit does not recommend it. More information can be found on the iFixit website.