Teardown of 38mm Apple Watch Sport Reveals 205 mAh Battery, Taptic Engine

[iJandro]

First thing I thought of when I saw the watch being taken apart:

 

[brand]

How many apps does it run?

Just as many third party apps as the Apple Watch.

 

[Jsameds]

Despite the sheer density of technology within the watch itself, I still see a lot of empty space - which is a good thing - it means the engineers at Apple won't have to work too hard to make this thing smaller next time round.

 

[alphaod]

Why would they want to make it smaller?

 

[Jsameds]

Why would they want to make it smaller?

Are you new to Apple or something?

 

[thadoggfather]

i wanna know who is making these screens

 

[SixtyK]

Just as many third party apps as the Apple Watch.

Here are nineteen third-party apps that are available now.

You were saying?

 

[northernbaldy]

that wouldn't pass the fish tank test

if Steve Jobs was still alive.......

 

[peterdevries]

Ummm, my 1995 World Citizen watch radio shack battery is twice as small and it runs for 4 years at a time...

A ridiculous analogy. The apple watch and your citizen are only similar in the way that they are worn on the wrist and tell time.

Its like saying a concert piano is superior to a synthesizer because you don't need to plug it in, ignoring all the additional possibilities of the synthesizer.

 

[mwinget]

Here are nineteen third-party apps that are available now.

You were saying?

those are the "19 BEST" (in Macworld UK's) opinion.

there are in fact over 3,000 apps that have been designed (or re-designed) to work with the Apple Watch

 

[spectrumfox]

A ridiculous analogy. The apple watch and your citizen are only similar in the way that they are worn on the wrist and tell time.

Its like saying a concert piano is superior to a synthesizer because you don't need to plug it in, ignoring all the additional possibilities of the synthesizer.

Synthesizer's don't need to be charged every day and won't become obsolete once the manufacturer stops updating its firmware. Concert pianos last decades.

Your analogy is just as ridiculous as his, if not moreso.

We know you're excited about the Apple Watch, but let's stick to reality here.

 

[ThisIsNotMe]

Oh my god!!!! The RAM, CPU, hard drive, and graphics card are all soldered to the motherboard! Classic Apple. Do they not care about repairability??? Think of the children!!!

 

[Wiesenlooser]

Man that taptic engine takes up a lot of space from the battery. they could have easily doubled battery life without it.

 

[BMcCoy]

Pretty much confirms there won't be an option to upgrade the internals when they release the next generation watch next year..

 

[CFreymarc]

Apple porn at it's finest.

 

[nikaru]

Did they really need to print instructions on how to fasten the Sport band? As if people can't figure it out.

The sad true is that there are a bunch of people that just cant figure it out...

Statistic shows that 5% of the population has IQ of...an idiot...

 

[brand]

Here are nineteen third-party apps that are available now.

You were saying?

Those apps are technically not running on the phone. Try running those apps without an iPhone.

 

[nikaru]

What about the Apple Watch Edition owners?

I expected Apple to reveale a return program for the Edition customers so they can swap their watch with a next generation unit paying just a fee and not the 10.000$ again. That would be preatty sweat deal I think and it is the most logical solution in my opinion.

Regarding the not so well hidden port I expect that someone will soon crack it down and access the OS in the not so far future. Wonder if the port is conected to the battery and allows to charge it from there. Would be sweet solution for flexible battery bands. Time will tell.

 

[deckard666]

Ummm, my 1995 World Citizen watch radio shack battery is twice as small and it runs for 4 years at a time...

That's great for you - now where it's MP3 player and Maps app?

 

[Rogifan]

Man that taptic engine takes up a lot of space from the battery. they could have easily doubled battery life without it.

Yeah and in his review John Gruber said the Watch would not be compelling at all without the taptic engine.

 

[Schizoid]

they seriously shafted the bottom of that outer case... let's hope it was just the speed of the tear-down eh?

 

[Pupi]

They are doing the 38mm SS now. I think it will be mostly the same.

Hopefully the 42mm follows suit, that's what I'm interested to see now.

 

[Keirasplace]

Despite the sheer density of technology within the watch itself, I still see a lot of empty space - which is a good thing - it means the engineers at Apple won't have to work too hard to make this thing smaller next time round.

Or maybe they needed the space for some reason, like maybe be able to get the battery out of there once a year, or heat considerations. There doesn't seem to much space at all from where I stand.

----------

Those apps are technically not running on the phone. Try running those apps without an iPhone.

Right, the phone is "only" a wireless remote screen for the phone apps, a phone which may be hundreds of meters away on the same WIFI network, how much of a "tech failure" is that... (sic)

 

[Jsameds]

Or maybe they needed the space for some reason, like maybe be able to get the battery out of there once a year, or heat considerations. There doesn't seem to much space at all from where I stand.

I can see where you're coming from, but this is Apple we're talking about, they know exactly what they are doing. There's not enough power in the battery to really create a lot of heat anyway, and with an all metal case whatever little heat is generated will be dispersed almost immediately.

The gaps in the watch are deliberate. They're giving themselves some legroom so when 2nd, 3rd, 4th+ gen AW comes along it makes reducing it's size a slightly less difficult task.

 

[Rogifan]

iFixit and Reuters offended because the S1 is completely sealed. Boo hoo.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/24/us-apple-watch-teardown-idUSKBN0NF0KF20150424

"We have definitely not seen this before," iFixit teardown engineer Andrew Goldberg said in Melbourne.

iFixit had anticipated that the resin module, which Apple has said is to protect the electronics from the elements, would have a lid that could be opened rather than be a solid block

"In the past, they have identified the component parts, but now instead of identifying all the processors and chips, they're marketing it as the S1," said Sam Lionheart, a technical writer at iFixit.

"They're being a little more protective of their suppliers and taking credit for more than they're making in house, which isn't a crime, to make the technology seem a bit more innovative or revolutionary than it really is," she added.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the design of the watch, or the rationale behind it.

Yeah, good luck with getting that response, Reuters.