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This story is part of Focal Point iPhone 2022, CNET’s collection of news, tips and advice around Apple’s most popular product.
Apple mentioned the iPhone 14 had a new internal design during its launch event earlier this month, and now a teardown from iFixit offers a look at exactly what’s different.
iFixit, a website devoted to showing consumers how to repair their own electronics, released its findings on the new iPhone 14 Monday, stating that it’s the “most repairable iPhone in half a decade.”
The biggest change, according to iFixit, is that the new iPhone 14 opens from both the front and back of the device. This means that you can access the screen, as well as remove the rear glass. iFixit said this change makes the iPhone 14 one of the most repairable iPhones since the 2016 iPhone 7, giving it an overall repairability score of 7 out of 10.
CNET’s Patrick Holland mentioned the internal redesign in his iPhone 14 review, noting that it “helps dissipate heat better and allows its glass back to be repaired more easily and for less money.”
iFixit found that you only need to remove two screws and a connector to access both the back glass and the screen. It also discovered that Apple added a new midframe between the components and the display. This helps to protect the phone from impact damage by dissipating force through the frame and battery, while sparing the phone’s more delicate internals.
The internal redesign is only present on the iPhone 14 and not the more expensive iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max models, according to iFixit.
