The Apple Watch Series 5 has now been given the teardown treatment by the folks at iFixit. This comes after the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro teardowns we saw last week. The Apple Watch Series 5 teardown shows just how similar the new device is to last year’s Series 4.
To crack open the Series 5, iFixit simply used heat to soften the adhesive holding it all together, and then a precision knife to separate the display. Inside, the battery size of the Series 5 is 1.4 percent larger than the Series 4. That’s not enough to make much of a difference in real-world use, especially coupled with the Always-On display.
What about that new Always-On display? It’s still hard to tell what exactly is powering that feature. Apple says the Series 5 uses things like a new ambient light sensor and advanced display drivers to achieve the functionality. iFixit, however, says “the real improvements are baked into the display tech invisible to the human eye” with LTPO technology.
Apple says the new Apple Watch Series 5 is made from “100% recycled aluminum,” but iFixit isn’t impressed with that claim:
Ultimately, iFixit concludes that the Series 5 is “very similar” to the Series 4 internally, but different enough that parts are not interchangeable between the two:
Check out the full iFixit teardown right here.
