Smart Battery Case Teardown Confirms Battery is Difficult to Replace

[jomuyo]

To be fair iFixit. My Mophie case is not repairable either. I never heard anything about repairability when they came out in 2007.

iFixit's arguments on the repairability of devices made sense on things like laptops and desktop computers. There were even good points on the ability of repairing your own smart phone.

Then the Apple Watch came out, and their repairability complaints became utter non-sense. The parts in any watch are super tiny, and by their nature are very hard to repair. If my Citizen watch broke, I would not pop it open, and fettle around to see if I can get the battery out. I would take it to a professional to repair it.

The repairability of the Apple Pencil is also moronic. Any fool can see that it was impossible to open up the thing. It is the size of a pen for heavens sake. My Jot Touch suffers from the same repairability weakness. I want a stylist with good palm rejection, instant response, and as close to the size of a pen or pencil as possible. To hell with its repairability.

 

[Silicon-Surfer]

As I said, every single vehicle manufacture uses belts. Chains are only used on a small number of vehicles.

Every current BMW engine uses a timing chain. BMW haven't used belts since the 80s.

 

[B4U]

Absolutely not true. I had a chain stretch and throw on a 1998 Corolla with 127K miles on it. The car had another 100K miles left on it at least. The chain was replaced (along with the intake valve that was bent when the piston hit it).

Chains wear out, and need to be replaced. Difference is that replacing a chain requires cracking open the engine. Belts do not.

That sucks.
My 2ZZ-GE is still running strong with how I abuse the crap out of her...

 

[Max(IT)]

I wonder when iFixit will start to include a recyclability score to their product teardowns.

Correct.
As others pointed out, they only care about selling their tools...

 

[GoodWheaties]

Why do these tear downs keep getting press ?

Crazy Insane Prediction. Are You Ready For This !! : NO APPLE PRODUCT HAS AN EASY TO REMOVE BATTERY FOR THE LAST HALF DECADE (except that crappy macbook pro with the cd drive they keep around for some reason).

I'm going to start announcing press releases stating THIS APPLE PRODUCT DOES NOT HAVE A CRT MONITOR.
0 / 10 on the CRT MONITOR SCALE.

Actually I believe the Macbook Air has a fairly easy battery to replace (no glue just proprietary screws on the bottom cover) so it's nice to see what iFixit finds out

 

[GoodWheaties]

Absolutely not true. I had a chain stretch and throw on a 1998 Corolla with 127K miles on it. The car had another 100K miles left on it at least. The chain was replaced (along with the intake valve that was bent when the piston hit it).

Chains wear out, and need to be replaced. Difference is that replacing a chain requires cracking open the engine. Belts do not.

Chains can be designed to be easily accessible just like belts but they are much more durable (with proper oiling!!!) so I believe designers are more willing to put them in inaccessible spots. As a side note, the only story I have of a chain failing is a guy I knew of with a really hopped '71 Chevelle running 100+mph and went over a bridge, the rear tires lifted and he spun the chain. This is kinda getting off topic

 

[GoodWheaties]

The other thing about these battery cases they fail to mention is they really drain out your original iPhone battery since it's also charging and never lets the original battery completely run down to 1 -5 % Prepare to replace your original iPhone battery much quicker than if you didn't use this case.

From what I understand these battery cases are actually the only cases to use the case battery FIRST!!! Which could actually make the phone's battery last longer.

 

[MrGuder]

From what I understand these battery cases are actually the only cases to use the case battery FIRST!!! Which could actually make the phone's battery last longer.

Really? If that's true it would be a first, do you have proof?

 

[GoodWheaties]

Really? If that's true it would be a first, do you have proof?

I do not have one to test it myself, but that is what a couple different reviews I've read have said. To me, that alone almost could make it worth the money.
EDIT: it only uses the case battery if the iPhone's battery is already at 100%. So you could potentially put far less cycles on the internal battery.

 

[Knotslip]

I'm sure there is a simple explanation for this, but how come the 1,877 mAh battery can't charge the internal smaller 1,715 mAh battery to 100%, instead of only around ~85%?

It's due to step-up and step-down converter efficiency. Current can only flow in the direction of lower voltage. So, in order for a 10% charged case at ~3V battery voltage to dump charge into an 80% phone at ~4V, the case must boost its voltage up before sending power to the phone. This costs some power, so it's not quite a 1:1 equivalence for mAh.