New 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro Teardown Photos Reveal Modular I/O Ports, Pull-Tab for Batteries

BY Rajesh Pandey

Published 27 Oct 2021

MacBook Pro teardown

The first set of teardown photos of the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro have made their way to the internet as eager enthusiasts open their machines to take a look at its revamped internals.

Redditor u/the_Ex_Lurker has posted teardown photos of his 14-inch MacBook Pro and shared his thoughts on the entire process as well. He notes that the opening process of the new MacBook Pro is similar to the 2016-2021 MacBook Pros. He also found that Apple has replaced the glued-in batteries from the 2012 MacBooks with iPhone-style pull tabs. This will lead to less e-waste and make battery replacement easier.

The keyboard on the MacBook Pro is still a part of the unibody chassis, so replacing it will not be easy and will require a complete top chassis replacement. The good thing is that all the ports on the new MacBook Pros are modular, making them easily replaceable. You can find more teardown photos of the 14-inch MacBook Pro here.

Former leaker @L0vetodream has also posted some teardown photos of the 16-inch MacBook Pro. He says the new M1 Max chip is really large and posted its pics alongside a 1 yuan coin for comparison. Apple uses a dual fan and single heat pipe design to manage the thermals inside the new 16-inch MacBook Pro. Overall, the internal design is modular and should make repairs easier.M1 Max chip

Barring some minor changes, the internals of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro look largely the same. They have a similar cooling system, with six batteries to power them. A more detailed teardown of the new MacBook Pros should be soon available from iFixit that will provide us with more insight on everything that’s new internally.