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iFixit Tears Down iPad Air 2, Confirms Smaller Battery, A8X Chip, and 2GB RAM

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Apr 12, 2001
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Now that the iPad Air 2 is being delivered to customers and showing up in retail Apple Stores, iFixit has acquired one of the new tablets and has begun one of its traditional teardowns to see just what's inside Apple's thinner, more powerful iPad Air 2.

According to iFixit, the "gapless" front panel is more rigid than previous iPad models, and feels sturdier when it's being pried up with the company's proprietary iOpener. As with all iPads, the glued down display is the only access point to the tablet.

As noted in reviews, the iPad Air 2 has a smaller battery than the original iPad Air, coming in at 27.62 Whr and 7,340 mAh. The first generation tablet had a 8,827 mAh/32.9 Whr battery life.

ifixitbattery-800x502.jpg

iFixit's teardown confirms the existence of both the more powerful A8X processor and 2GB of Elpida F8164A3MD RAM, with two separate 1GB RAM chips located on either side of the A8X processor. Based on Elpida's RAM numbering scheme, the "8" located in the second character slot indicates that each chip is 1GB. 2GB on a single chip would be denoted with an "A".

The tablet also has 16GB of flash memory from SK Hynix and the same NXP 65V10 NFC module that was used in the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, but it does not appear to have an NFC antenna. Apple has said that the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 will not be able to make in-store Apple Pay payments.

logicboardipadair2-800x263.jpg

The iPad Air 2's Touch ID sensor cable appears to be very similar to the sensor cable found in the new iPhones, and the Touch ID sensor itself was made by NXP Semiconductors. The 8-megapixel camera is similar to the camera in the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus as well, but they are not identical. The iPad Air 2's ambient light sensor has been split into two sensors, with one now located on the headphone jack, possibly for improved accuracy.

Along with the repositioning of several internal microphone and camera components, the Wi-Fi model's antennas, previously located at the bottom of the tablet, have been moved to the top of the iPad. iFixit has also confirmed that Smart Covers designed for the previous-generation iPad Air will work with the iPad Air 2.

Apple's iPad Air 2 is currently available for order online, with new orders shipping in two to four days. Wi-Fi only models are also available in retail stores as of today, with Wi-Fi + Cellular models coming at a later date. Prices for the new iPad Air 2 start at $499.

Article Link: iFixit Tears Down iPad Air 2, Confirms Smaller Battery, A8X Chip, and 2GB RAM
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/22/ifixit-ipad-air-2-teardown/
Kariya

Kariya

macrumors 68000
Nov 3, 2010
1,820
10
All for thinness that matters little. Bet many would've gladly take the previous gen's depth + the bigger battery.
 
Supacon

Supacon

macrumors regular
Jul 7, 2011
104
202
Canada
If Apple's priorities weren't clear before, this spells it right out. They have no problem sacrificing battery life if it means they can make a thinner device.
 
A

afsnyder

macrumors 65816
Jan 7, 2014
1,270
33
Kariya said:
All for thinness that matters little. Bet many would've gladly take the previous gen's depth + the bigger battery.
Click to expand...

Smaller battery but same battery life. If thinness makes the tablet easier to use, then yea go ahead and shrink the battery as long as it gives me the same great battery life.
 
arftech

arftech

macrumors regular
Aug 17, 2010
242
8
Incredibly thin, additional ram, smaller battery and still the good battery life. This equals a win!:apple:
 
L

Lancetx

macrumors 68000
Aug 11, 2003
1,991
619
The battery life is still at least the 10 hours that Apple promises, but I guess some people just have to find something to complain about now that they can't complain about the lack of RAM....
 
A

afsnyder

macrumors 65816
Jan 7, 2014
1,270
33
leftywamumonkey said:
Reviewers have found the original Air to have better battery life in their reviews.
Click to expand...

All the reviews I read said it was the same.... if one or two reviewers find it different it might just be because they are testing it differently. I will look more into it though.
 
D

dc89

macrumors newbie
May 29, 2014
16
0
Apple's obsession with thinness has just got silly.
Protruding cameras in one product and a decrease in battery life in another.
 
0

0xyMoron

macrumors 6502
Oct 5, 2012
433
3
California
Apple should reconsider their thinner product obsession.. If customers were asked to set their priorities they'd ask for longer battery life than thinner iDevice.
 
I

ipadlvr

macrumors regular
Oct 22, 2014
210
4
IFixit didn't reveal 2GB of ram.

We assume it is 2GB.

We don't know what part number "Elpida (Micron Technology) F8164A3MD" is, and neither does ifixit. They told us the part number and said there are 2 of them.

There is no listing anywhere for this part, even in Micron's catalog, and so the only thing we can go by are the benchmark software to tell us
 
B

blackcrayon

macrumors 68020
Mar 10, 2003
2,255
1,824
leftywamumonkey said:
Reviewers have found the original Air to have better battery life in their reviews.
Click to expand...

Both still meeting or exceeding 10 hours though... I bet most people wouldn't notice unless doing a rundown test with a timer. The reviews that didn't do this seem to think the battery life is the same as the Air.
 
S

smulji

macrumors 68030
Feb 21, 2011
2,838
2,713
Kariya said:
All for thinness that matters little. Bet many would've gladly take the previous gen's depth + the bigger battery.
Click to expand...

Read this article to understand the importance of iPad Air 2's thinness;


http://techpinions.com/the-ipad-air-2s-huge-upside/35974

In a nutshell, it's about making it easier and more comfortable to hold for long periods of time.
 
M

MrGuder

macrumors 68040
Nov 30, 2012
3,026
2,012
The battery on the iPad Air 2 is a fail in my opinion, how about making it thinner and also 1 hour more battery. To say it's thinner and also retains the same battery is not spectacular. If they made it thinner and also increased battery by 1 hr now that would be "wow"

With every new iPad, they should be bragging that it last's longer than the previous iPad not that it stays the same. It's so odd that they keep making the battery smaller, the device thinner and battery still sucks. I don't get it.

I'm waiting for the time when the keynote says: "The #1 item our customer's are asking for is longer battery"
 
vagos

vagos

macrumors 6502
Oct 19, 2014
271
1,675
For the name of god people, enough with the slim-rage.
It's got 11.5 hours of battery life. Not good enough for you ?
 
B

blackcrayon

macrumors 68020
Mar 10, 2003
2,255
1,824
ipadlvr said:
IFixit didn't reveal 2GB of ram.

We assume it is 2GB.

We don't know what part number "Elpida (Micron Technology) F8164A3MD" is, and neither does ifixit. They told us the part number and said there are 2 of them.

There is no listing anywhere for this part, even in Micron's catalog, and so the only thing we can go by are the benchmark software to tell us
Click to expand...

We can also go by the fact that Apple has used single 1 GB chips in the past, including in the iPhone 6, and there doesn't seem to be any reason for them to suddenly switch to two 512 GB chips :D
Also it would be strange for the benchmarks to get it wrong when they're obviously reading system values (as opposed to software that sometimes comes out after a device is released that just looks up the device type and makes a hard coded assumption based on that).
 
I

ipadlvr

macrumors regular
Oct 22, 2014
210
4
dc89 said:
Apple's obsession with thinness has just got silly.
Protruding cameras in one product and a decrease in battery life in another.
Click to expand...

Battery life hasn't decreased since the iPad 1 in 2010.

I can post a video of Steve Jobs on stage saying even though the iPad 2 is thinner than the first iPad, it still gives you the same "legendary 10 hour battery life".

Same thing they're saying now.

They made it thinner and lighter and they've kept the same battery life since 2010.
 
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