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iFixit Tears Down Apple's Fifth-Generation iPod Touch

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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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The teardown experts at iFixit have turned their attention to Apple's fifth-generation iPod touch, moving quickly to examine the internals of the company's redesigned device.

The teardown reveals few surprises, but offers a good look at how Apple has been able to pack all of the components into a body that has 20% less volume than the iPhone 5. With a lack of cellular communications technology, the iPod touch carries fewer components and consolidates them into just a handful of parts. Most notably the logic board and battery are smaller than seen in the iPhone 5 and carry a top-and-bottom layout as opposed to the side-by-side layout seen in the iPhone.

ifixit_ipod_touch_5gen_teardown.jpg
One aspect of the teardown that did catch our eye is the Lightning connector and headphone jack assembly, which contains a long ribbon cable extending from those ports at the bottom of the device up to the logic board at the top. This part was seen several times back in August and was at the time claimed to be for the "iPad mini".

Those claims led to confusion over whether the iPad mini's headphone jack would be located at the bottom as on the iPhone 5 and the iPod touch or on the top as in the full-size iPad and as seen in mockups and cases reportedly based on leaked iPad mini design specs. With the appearance of this part in the iPod touch, the discrepancy has now been resolved and signs are pointing to the iPad mini's headphone jack being along the top edge of the device.

ifixit_ipod_touch_5gen_logic_board.jpg
Other aspects of the device are fairly standard, with the logic board revealing Apple's A5 system-on-a-chip, flash storage from Toshiba, and the usual assortment of chips for handling Wi-Fi, touchscreen functions, gyroscope, and more.

Overall, iFixit found the new iPod touch to be difficult to repair, with many components soldered together and the device held together with adhesives and clips that make it difficult to open. The revelation is not a surprise, as Apple does not intend its mobile products to be user-serviceable and the company's efforts to push the limits of design and size reduction have led it to sacrifice accessibility.

Article Link: iFixit Tears Down Apple's Fifth-Generation iPod Touch
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/10/11/ifixit-tears-down-apples-fifth-generation-ipod-touch/
G

gpat

macrumors 68000
Mar 1, 2011
1,870
5,045
Italy
The revelation is not a surprise, as Apple does not intend its mobile products to be user-serviceable
Click to expand...

Guilt.

and the company's efforts to push the limits if design and size reduction have led it to sacrifice accessibility.
Click to expand...

Apology.
 
krause734

krause734

macrumors 6502a
Jul 30, 2010
592
1,405
Look up in the sky! It's an iPhone 4s! No, it's an iPhone 5! It's an iPad Mini! No, it's an iPod Touch 5!!!
 
iSee

iSee

macrumors 68040
Oct 25, 2004
3,539
272
flopticalcube said:
$300 and it can't be repaired. Wow!
Click to expand...

Right, because that's what people really want to do with their Ipods: repair them.

Right now there are people tearing open the package containing their brand new iPod Touch, putting a screw driver to it, finding it diffucult to repair and howling to the heavens:

"Oh Noooo! It's not repairable!!! I can't believe I paid $300 for this thing! Damn you Apple! Damn you to hell!"

Seriously, the market has spoken. People value small size and improved battery life over repairability. If Apple made it larger or made the battery smaller in order to make it more repairable, people would be less willing to pay $300.
 
daneoni

daneoni

macrumors G4
Mar 24, 2006
11,598
1,146
Its a harder sell this year. Starts at $299 and is still far too reliant on the dinosaur that is iTunes.
 
QCassidy352

QCassidy352

macrumors G5
Mar 20, 2003
12,028
6,036
Bay Area
What isee said. Seriously guys, about .0001% of users would trade thinness for the ability to tear open their iPod and fiddle with things. If you're in that small group... Well, sorry. The market isn't on your side.
 
M

Meroigo

macrumors newbie
Jun 15, 2012
8
0
Japan
daneoni said:
Its a harder sell this year. Starts at $299 and is still far too reliant on the dinosaur that is iTunes.
Click to expand...

It is? Can't you setup an iOS device without a computer nowdays? Buy and download your apps/music/video from iTunes store with the device itself over Wifi.
 
W

WLS

macrumors 65816
Jul 10, 2008
1,288
109
Read the source article, the MR editor misses one of the more important surprises!
"When comparing the Touch to the iPhone 5 display assembly, it's apparent that this is a much simpler, cheaper design, despite Apple claiming the two have very similar functionality."
 
C

crazy4apple

macrumors regular
Jan 26, 2010
127
0
London (UK)
where's the Ipad Mini Invites WSJ said

I thought Walt Mossberg was tight with Tim. what happened to the rumor that invites for the Ipad mini would come on the 10th yesterday :(
 
C

commander.data

macrumors 65816
Nov 10, 2006
1,057
183
It'd be good if they measured the A5 die size just to confirm the iPod Touch is using the 32nm version that is generally expected.
 
turtlez

turtlez

macrumors 6502a
Jun 17, 2012
977
0
lol @ people complaining you cannot repair it. Same kind of thing as non user replaceable battery. Ask how many people replace the battery in their smart phones (non iPhone) and I bet less than 1% have. I have had a nokia 6220 since 2005 and the battery is still fine.

Hilarious how people use it as an argument not to buy from Apple. They always get caught out when I say "Yeah I would never buy from Apple because I cannot replace the battery in 10 year time!"

Looks > Replacing battery in 10 years when your phone will be extinct just in the hardware performance department.

Why buy a battery for a laptop that can only run windows 3.1? Get me?
 
M

mesostinky

macrumors newbie
Oct 5, 2012
1
0
I posted the same thing other day but I'll repeat it again because I think it is a valid point. The way Apple treats the Touch really annoys me. First off they hamper it with a previous generation cpu and half the ram vs the iphone. Second they use a cheaper screen. Third a weaker previous generation camera. Fourth no gps. And to top it off they charge the same price as an iphone. So by all outward appearances you are getting an iphone minus the cell chipset but in reality they cut corners almost everywhere and give you a cheaper built product. They can of course choose to do that, but then cut the price. And yes I realize an unlocked iphone is more expensive but then again I can buy an iphone from any carrier for those cheaper "subsidized" prices right now, so the comparison holds.
I've owned a few Touch's and think they are cool devices. But lower the darn price already.
 
WildCowboy

WildCowboy

Administrator/Editor
Staff member
Jan 20, 2005
18,390
2,826
WLS said:
Read the source article, the MR editor misses one of the more important surprises!
"When comparing the Touch to the iPhone 5 display assembly, it's apparent that this is a much simpler, cheaper design, despite Apple claiming the two have very similar functionality."
Click to expand...

I'm not entirely sure what they mean by that, but I think they're referring to the overall assembly, including the sturdier home button and the other sensors needed in the iPhone 5. The display panel itself looks the same to me.

crazy4apple said:
I thought Walt Mossberg was tight with Tim. what happened to the rumor that invites for the Ipad mini would come on the 10th yesterday :(
Click to expand...

Forbes was the source of that rumor, and PED admitted that he shouldn't have published it.
 
J

jabingla2810

macrumors 68020
Oct 15, 2008
2,271
938
Amazing to see the inside of the aluminium case has been treated to the same colour as the outside.

Nice touch.
 
Z

Zunjine

macrumors 6502a
Jun 26, 2009
715
0
QCassidy352 said:
What isee said. Seriously guys, about .0001% of users would trade thinness for the ability to tear open their iPod and fiddle with things. If you're in that small group... Well, sorry. The market isn't on your side.
Click to expand...

Precisely.

People who are into tech often forget how not normal they are. And I say this as someone who loves techies. I really do. But if you're here, talking about this, then you are not normal. Even those of us who are casual techies are still way outside of the bellcurve. We are outliers and we shouldn't forget that - these design choices aren't made with us in mind.

----------
mesostinky said:
I posted the same thing other day but I'll repeat it again because I think it is a valid point. The way Apple treats the Touch really annoys me. First off they hamper it with a previous generation cpu and half the ram vs the iphone. Second they use a cheaper screen. Third a weaker previous generation camera. Fourth no gps. And to top it off they charge the same price as an iphone. So by all outward appearances you are getting an iphone minus the cell chipset but in reality they cut corners almost everywhere and give you a cheaper built product. They can of course choose to do that, but then cut the price. And yes I realize an unlocked iphone is more expensive but then again I can buy an iphone from any carrier for those cheaper "subsidized" prices right now, so the comparison holds.
I've owned a few Touch's and think they are cool devices. But lower the darn price already.
Click to expand...

The iPhone 5 with 32GB of internal storage is £599 here in the UK. The entry price new iPod touch has the same internal memory and costs £249. I don't know how you make that the same price. For £249 this is one hell of a good device. Brilliant screen, screaming fast processor, HD video recording, facetime, Siri. This is a great little device for that money and not nearly as expensive as the iPhone 5.
 
A

aneftp

macrumors 601
Jul 28, 2007
4,362
546
512MB RAM in iPod Touch 5th gen.

That's 1/2 the RAM as the iPhone 5.

iPod Touch for at least the first 3 generations were at least as fast or slightly faster than their iPhone counterparts cause it was "tweaked" as a gaming device.

Now iPod Touch is the step sister to the iPhone. Never getting the lastest gen specs.

For $299. I can find a very good condition or mint iPhone 4S 16GB. Some of which still have 4-6 months of warranty left on craigslist.
 
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