Teardown of Apple’s Smart Battery Case Reveals 1,877 mAh Battery

iFixit has once again performed that teardown voodoo, that they do, so well, this time on the new Apple Smart Battery Case for the iPhone 6s. The teardown reveals a brushed aluminum inner shell, rechargeable lithium-ion battery and tiny logic board boasting two Lightning connectors.

The new battery case funnels the sound forward from the iPhone’s downward-facing speaker, doing the same for the device’s built-in microphone. The case includes a big enough opening around the headphones connector to allow Apple’s stock EarPods to easily plug-in, but users of other types of headphones may run into trouble getting hooked up.

An inner aluminum plate acts as a door to the battery compartment, where iFixit found a 1,877 mAh battery (7.13 Whr), which more than doubles the battery capacity of the iPhone 6s’ 1,715 mAh power source. The battery is “very strongly adhered in place” with a connector, contributing to the accessory’s low 2 out of 10 reparability score.

The “smart” part of the new iPhone 6s case amounts to a NXP NX20P3 load switch, also found in Lightning to USB cables, and a NXP 1608A1 charging chip.

As we mentioned above, iFixit gave the Smart Battery Case a low 2 out of 10 repairability score, due to the following:

  • Non-proprietary T3 Torx screws make repairs more accessible, but are covered by strongly-adhered microfiber liner.
  • Battery replacement is possible, but will likely destroy the microfiber liner.
  • The only possible repair—replacing the battery—is made difficult by very strong adhesive.
  • No other repairs are possible without destroying the device.

 

Chris Hauk

Chris is a Senior Editor at Mactrast. He lives somewhere in the deep Southern part of America, and yes, he has to pump in both sunshine and the Internet.