7th Gen 10.2-Inch iPad Teardown Reveals More RAM, New Magnet Patterns, More

BY Mahit Huilgol

Published 27 Sep 2019

iFixit has been busy pulling apart new iPhones and Apple Watch Series 5. This time around iFixit has published a teardown report for the new 10.2-inch 7th Gen iPad. The teardown reveals bigger RAM, details about Smart Connector and battery capacity.

The teardown also reveals a difference in the pattern of magnets along the edges. Magnets on the iPad are designed to fit into Smart Keyboard and other supported accessories. The folks at iFixit wonder if Apple has done this in order to better accommodate Smart Keyboard. Furthermore, the Smart Connector cable runs along with the battery and is notably better than its predecessor.

The 7-Gen 10.2-inch iPad is powered by Apple’s A10 Fusion chip and features 3GB of RAM, as opposed to the 2GB on the 6th-Gen iPad. The iPad comes with a separate glass screen for the display. This arrangement will help in easier and affordable repairs. Moving on, Apple has not increased the battery size on the new iPad and yet manages to retain the battery backup. Apple has fitted a larger display on the latest iPad, the battery size has remained unchanged and yet the battery backup is similar to its predecessor.

The battery is labeled A1484 and rated for 32.9 Wh—the exact same battery as last year and the year before, despite the extra space in this year’s larger case. After the massive iPhone battery upgrade we just saw, we were primed for a little more here.

iFixit concludes the teardown by assigning a dismal 2 out of 10 repairability score for the new iPad. Typically iPad’s score very less when it comes to repairability and are plagued with complexities like excessive use of strong adhesive, a lightning port that is soldered to the logic board, and complexities involved in replacing logic board and battery.

[via iFixit]