What you need to know
- iFixit has posted their first impressions of the new iPhone SE.
- The blog post details all of the parts that are interchangeable between the iPhone 8 and iPhone SE.
- The results are a mixed bag.
When the iPhone SE launched to the public on Friday last week, we immediately got a quick teardown of the new phone from a YouTuber called Wenzhou Ao Technology. The video was a pretty quick look at some of the similarities between the internals of the iPhone 8 and the new iPhone SE.
Now, one of the most popular outlets when it comes to teardowns of tech has released their first impression of the internals comparing these two phones. iFixit has uploaded a blog post comparing all of the parts that they have confirmed are swappable between the iPhone 8 and the new iPhone SE.
When iFixit disassembled the iPhone SE and compared the parts to that of the iPhone 8, they actually found quite a few parts that were interchangeable. According to the outlet the SIM tray, Taptic Engine, and display assembly are all swappable between the two devices. Despite the earlier teardown from Wenzhou Ao Technology believing that the camera was not interchangeable, iFixit has confirmed that it is. Some parts, like the home button and True Tone technology, remain incompatible between the phones.
"The good parts first: iPhone SE's cameras, SIM tray, Taptic Engine, and display assembly (including the microphone and proximity sensor) are all swappable with iPhone 8 parts. And that screen should be cheaper to replace than any new iPhone we've seen in years. However, as with any modern iPhone screen swap, you will lose True Tone unless you have access to a screen programmer. And home buttons are still not interchangeable—you'll need to hold on to your original home button in the event of a repair, substitute an aftermarket home button with no Touch ID, or else pay Apple whatever they ask to fix it for you."
Another piece of hardware incompatible between the iPhone 8 and the new iPhone SE is the battery. While both are the same size, the new SE has the connector similar to that of the iPhone 11, something that the iPhone 8 does not have.
"Also incompatible? The battery. Turns out, although the battery looks identical, the battery's logic board connector differs from the one in the 8, so they don't fit together. The SE will connect to an iPhone 11 battery, which uses the same connector—but it won't turn on. And, sadly, this seemingly throwback phone has some very modern Apple roadblocks inside. You can't even swap one genuine iPhone SE 2020 battery for another without triggering a "not a genuine Apple battery" service warning."
iFixit says that their full review is coming soon. You can read their full first impressions on their blog post
