What you need to know
- The iPhone 12 mini has its first teardown.
- iFixit has cracked the device open for a first-look at those internals.
- You can see the 12 mini's battery, camera, and more.
If you'd read our iPhone 12 mini review, you'll know it's all Lory Gil has ever wanted in a tiny iPhone.
Now, iFixit is back with the first part of its iPhone 12 teardown, giving us all a juicy first-look at the iPhone 12 mini's insides.
From iFixit:
The mini has landed! It's iPhone 12 teardown time—again—and while the phone may be small, this teardown is bigger than ever. It's so big, we're splitting it into two parts! Check out part one of our iPhone 12 mini teardown below, and tune in tomorrow for part two, where we dish on all the chips and other 5G hardware differences between the US version and those sold to our friends in the EU. (Yes, we tore down both.)
Notable turnups to report include "increased grille asymmetry", which iFixit says is likely because the phone needs more space for its 5G antenna band. Compared to the regular iPhone 12, the mini only has two displays cables (instead of three), a "miniaturized" battery, Taptic Engine, and loudspeaker, and "migrated display silicon." iFixit also notes that the mini's upper assembly is slightly different. On cameras:
This is the first time we've seen "más" cameras in a "menos" iPhone. It's impressive to see, especially if no corners were cut in the process... We're impressed by the additional camera in this small-bodied phone, but it may have come at the expense of the already paltry battery life. Hard to stay mad at this li'l guy, though.
iFixit says they were also surprised by the "even shripmier" Taptic engine in the mini, but that overall, everything seems to be packed in very snugly.
Part 2 of the teardown is on the way and will include a look at all of the iPhone 12 mini's major internals.
The folks at iFixit also made headlines earlier this week, after some of its tools were spotted in Apple's lab during its November Apple silicon Mac event, prompting an outburst of irony-spotting on social media.
