Four things we learned from the Apple Watch 4 teardown
Apple packs a lot into the smaller space, yet makes replacing the screen and the battery easier.
The Apple Watch Series 4, deconstructed by iFixit.
Hot on the heels of its dual iPhone XS and XS Max teardowns, device repair specialist site iFixit headed back to the workbench on Monday to pull apart the new Apple Watch Series 4.
The disassembly delivered good news -- the battery is bigger, though still smaller than the original Apple Watch's. Plus, it gave us a glimpse into the workings of the EKG, the design changes that helped Apple pump up the speaker volume, improve repairability and remove an ugly hole.
The new S4 processor, which drives the whole Watch, now pops out easily; Apple's practice has historically been to glue down many of its processors. Beneath it are the charging coils and a magnet in the middle.
iFixit posits that the electrodes measure changes in the polarization of electrons on the surface of your skin caused by its magnetic field as you press it to your skin.
When you press the digital crown, it measures the opposite hand and closes the signal between it and the wrist electrode. Then it all gets funneled into the new S4 chip.
The barometric sensor has presumably been relocated to near the speaker grill.
It looks like Apple moved the microphone to the other side of the case, allowing the speaker to take up more room -- and therefore allowing it to increase the volume.
At the same time, it moved what iFixit believes is the barometer to share the outside access of the speaker grill, making it possible to get rid of the hole it needed previously to sense the air pressure.
The bottom just pops out.
And finally, Apple didn't glue the S4 processor down as per its usual practice, which makes it much easier to get to the battery.
Check out the entire teardown below.
