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iPod Touch tough to repair

iFixit's teardown also shows a "a much simpler, cheaper design" for the screen and a weaker home button.

Shara Tibken Former managing editor
Shara Tibken was a managing editor at CNET News, overseeing a team covering tech policy, EU tech, mobile and the digital divide. She previously covered mobile as a senior reporter at CNET and also wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. Shara is a native Midwesterner who still prefers "pop" over "soda."
Shara Tibken
2 min read
Apple's fifth generation iPod Touch. Sarah Tew/CNET

Apple's latest iPod Touch is pretty tough to repair, iFixit said amid its teardown of the device that also showed some differences from the iPhone 5.

The site gave the fifth-generation iPod a ranking of 3 on a repairability scale of 10, with 10 being the easiest. It noted it's difficult to open the case, but it's not impossible, and the battery is flanked by notches that makes it fairly easy to remove.

However, the volume buttons, microphone, LED flash, and power button are connected with one ribbon cable. To repair one component would require replacing the entire ribbon cable assembly. And the Lightning connector, headphone jack and microphone ribbon cable are all soldered to the logic board.

"This is just another example of how Apple is simplifying and grouping the components in its products," iFixit noted. "Unfortunately, in doing so, it's inadvertently putting an end to repairability."

The iPod Touch Lighting connector, headphone jack, and microphone ribbon cable is soldered to the logic board. iFixit
Meanwhile, the site say that when comparing the Touch to the iPhone 5 display, "it's apparent that this is a much simpler, cheaper design, despite Apple claiming the two have very similar functionality."

And iFixit had praised Apple for designing a stronger home button for the iPhone 5, but it said it was "somewhat disappointed" with the weaker, rubber-membrane design of the Touch's home button.

The teardown also showed the iPod Touch's main components suppliers include Cirrus Logic, Toshiba, Murata, Broadcom, STMicro, Texas Instruments, and NXP Semi.

Apple's new iPod touch uses an Apple A5 dual-core processor and includes other components from Toshiba, Murata, Broadcom, and STMicro, among others. iFixit