Apple’s new iPhone 7 and 7 plus smartphones are officially on sale, which means it’s time for iFixit’s traditional surgical dismemberment.
The teardown specialist shows how an iPhone looks from the inside with the 3.5mm headphone jack cast aside.
Perhaps more significantly, the speaker grille that replaced it is shown to be for aesthetics only. There’s no additional loudspeaker on the bottom left side of the phone.
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Related: iPhone 7 review in progress
Given waterproofing was one of the reasons Apple gave the 3.5mm jack, it is interesting the firm would add more holes to the bottom of the phone.
Rather than add an additional speaker, Apple created a larger Taptic Engine to bring the new click-free home button to life.
Directly where the headphone jack used to be, Apple has added a “barometric vent.”
The Verge points out the new waterproofing tech meant the iPhone’s innards were sealed off, making it less effective as a barometer.
The new barometric vents enables the iPhone 7 to measure altitude.
So, essentially, we have a situation where adding waterproofing tech to the iPhone 7 may have spelled doom for the headphone jack.
Update: While iFixit disassembled an iPhone 7 plus featuring a Qualcomm modem, Chipworks took a regular iPhone 7 apart and found a model built by none other than Intel!
Have you picked up an iPhone 7 or 7 plus today? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.