iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max Feature More Repairable Design With Removable Back Glass

[MacRumors]

During its event this week, Apple announced that the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max feature a more repairable internal design, with a redesigned frame that allows for the back glass panel to be easily removed from the devices.

Apple already applied this change to the lower-end iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus last year, making them the first iPhone models that can officially be opened from both the front and back sides of the device for repairs since the iPhone 4S, released in 2011. The internal redesign did not extend to the iPhone 14 Pro models.

Removable back glass will likely result in significantly lower repair fees for iPhone 15 Pro models with cracked back glass for customers without AppleCare+ coverage. Apple's out-of-warranty fees for the more repairable iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus with back glass damage range from $169 to $199, compared to $499 to $549 for iPhone 14 Pro models. Apple has yet to disclose repair fees for the iPhone 15 series on its website.

iFixit's Kyle Wiens last year said the iPhone 14 represented "the most substantial iPhone redesign" since the iPhone X given the increased repairability. He added that the changes were "such a big deal that it should have been Apple's big announcement—the iPhone has been redesigned from the inside out to make it easier to repair."

The entire iPhone 15 series can be pre-ordered starting this Friday, September 15 at 5 a.m. Pacific Time, and the devices launch on Friday, September 22.

Article Link: iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max Feature More Repairable Design With Removable Back Glass

 

[JippaLippa]

Steps in the right direction.
I'll be curious to see how apple will adapt to the 2027 regulation og having removable batteries.

 

[adammusic]

Yeah im not buying a macbook until they make the ssd & ram replaceable. Do that you greenwashing f***s

 

[fwmireault]

Great step forward!

 

[lkrupp]

Steps in the right direction.
I'll be curious to see how apple will adapt to the 2027 regulation og having removable batteries.

There is NO such regulation, only being proposed at this point. And if this passes and is enforced get ready for radical design changes in ALL smartphones. We are rapidly moving to mobile devices designed by bureaucrats. I shudder at what they will look like.

 

[Torty]

Steps in the right direction.
I'll be curious to see how apple will adapt to the 2027 regulation og having removable batteries.

Waiting for the battery compartment for the D batteries. 🔋🔋🔋EU: It’s your task!

 

[mortenb]

There is NO such regulation, only being proposed at this point. And if this passes and is enforced get ready for radical design changes in ALL smartphones. We are rapidly moving to mobile devices designed by bureaucrats. I shudder at what they will look like.

Incorrect. The law passed in the European Parliament in June this year.

It was passed in the parliament with 587 votes in favor, only nine against, so it has significant support.

There are already a few smartphones with replaceable batteries, design does not have to very different.

 

[RedTheReader]

Wish I could remove it permanently and replace it with one made of titanium like the rest of the phone.

 

[Return Zero]

Good to see this, but I won't be happy as long as there is wasted space for a SIM card slot AND no option to actually use a SIM card. Give me something for my compromise, please. Battery life, better features, or whatever. (Sure, I haven't seen proof the 15 still has the empty spacer for the SIM card slot, but with the international phones still using them I'm 99% it will be the same story there).

 

[Fortimir]

Steps in the right direction.
I'll be curious to see how apple will adapt to the 2027 regulation og having removable batteries.

There's a carve-out in the regulation for batteries that maintain a large portion of their capacity for a long enough time. I believe it's 80% after 3 years.

 

[deebinem]

Yeah im not buying a macbook until they make the ssd & ram replaceable. Do that you greenwashing f***s

Batteries being easy to replace by a user, totally get that, but how the eff does needing swap a RAM module benefit the environment?

Unless you want some way to use that 256mb DIMM you've been holding onto because you didn't want to put it in a landfill?

 

[deebinem]

Waiting for the battery compartment for the D batteries. 🔋🔋🔋EU: It’s your task!

Too big... CR32 compartment!

 

[spinedoc77]

Steps in the right direction.
I'll be curious to see how apple will adapt to the 2027 regulation og having removable batteries.

This is what I'm waiting for, should be interesting.

 

[bigjnyc]

Wish I could remove it permanently and replace it with one made of titanium like the rest of the phone.

if it's easily user removable I could totally see third party sellers flooding the market with all kinds of different backs.... But will having a titanium back mess with the cellular or WIFI reception? or does that not make a difference?

 

[gk_brown]

> iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max feature a more repairable internal design
> Apple already applied this change to the lower-end iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus last year

So the non-Pro 14 and 14 Plus have this feature, and the Pro 15 and 15 Max have this feature, but not the 14 Pro or 15 non-Pro models?

 

[aue123]

i wonder how much cheaper it’ll be to replace it. i think currently the price is $650 .. what could be be now, $400?

 

[t0rqx]

10 years it took Siri to able to start screen recording. 10+ years to make a repairable backcover iPhone. Cannot innovate my a...

 

[mortenb]

Batteries being easy to replace by a user, totally get that, but how the eff does needing swap a RAM module benefit the environment?

Unless you want some way to use that 256mb DIMM you've been holding onto because you didn't want to put it in a landfill?

If the user can upgrade a device, it will prolong it's usable lifespan. In the past I have upgraded many computers with more RAM and a new harddrive, giving them a few more years to live.

 

[CWallace]

> iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max feature a more repairable internal design
> Apple already applied this change to the lower-end iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus last year

So the non-Pro 14 and 14 Plus have this feature, and the Pro 15 and 15 Max have this feature, but not the 14 Pro or 15 non-Pro models?

iPhone 15 and 15 Plus should since the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus do. The iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max do not, so that is why adding it to the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max is significant.

 

[JosephAW]

Just lots and lots of tiny screws

 

[PsykX]

Yeah im not buying a macbook until they make the ssd & ram replaceable. Do that you greenwashing f***s

I can understand about the SSD, but if you really want replaceable RAM on an Apple Silicon SoC, you'll never buy a Mac ever again.

 

[R2DHue]

There is NO such regulation, only being proposed at this point. And if this passes and is enforced get ready for radical design changes in ALL smartphones. We are rapidly moving to mobile devices designed by bureaucrats. I shudder at what they will look like.

You may be absolutely correct, but — with history as a guide — hulking bureaucratic government organizations that hand down orders by fiat never stop when a company first capitulates to one of their demands. (Give them a millimeter and they’ll take a meterstick).

The E.U. already issues all kinds of dictates without the member countries’ legislative bodies passing them as laws.

Apple’s obedience so far may give these power hungry and controlling bureaucrats a “swelled head,” and their dictates to Apple and others on how they must design their products will continue without end.

I would not be surprised if, next, one of these bureaucratic bodies dictates to Apple that iMessage must be compatible with all non-Apple devices, OSes and apps…

If it gets to be too much, and if Apple dares, the company should refuse unreasonable dictates and threaten to stop selling Apple products in those countries altogether. The restive PEOPLE will take it from there, and the elite bureaucrats in those countries will back down (from the safety of their wine and cheese stocked bunkers).

 

[deebinem]

If the user can upgrade a device, it will prolong it's usable lifespan. In the past I have upgraded many computers with more RAM and a new harddrive, giving them a few more years to live.

For sure, I'm holding on to a 2015 MBPr for the ability to swap out a bigger SSD and relatively replaceable battery for this reason.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

if it's easily user removable I could totally see third party sellers flooding the market with all kinds of different backs.... But will having a titanium back mess with the cellular or WIFI reception? or does that not make a difference?

It doesn’t HAVE to, given enough engineering, but I don’t imagine anyone would relish having to engineer around reduced exposure to signals.

 

[Fat_Guy]

If you can replace the battery you may as well add back the the expandable storage bay and keep the sim tray - just in case. Then add the easily removable plastic back cover! Like going back 15 years.


Actually I bought a phone like that two years ago and you can still buy it! You can also remove the modem if you want. It has these tiny switches where you can turn off the microphone and the cameras, modem and so on. All for 150 bucks….. And USB-C!


Fully EU compliant!

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