Designed for adventure, exploration, and endurance, the $800 Apple Watch Ultra has a 49mm titanium casing and flat sapphire front crystal with display edge protection for durability.
However, the watch can get scratches or a cracked screen during usage and its battery health will deteriorate like every other product and would need screen and battery repair. For DYI repair enthusiasts, iFixit did a teardown of the premium smartwatch to know if they can repair a cracked screen.
Takeaways from the Apple Watch Ultra teardown
Unlike the Apple Watch Series 8 and older models, Apple Watch Ultra opens from the back and front.
The ceramic backplate is secured with four screws and a new gasket that behaves like glue for water resistance up to 100 meters of depth but it was destroyed immediately when the lid was removed.
However, the battery is not under the backplate and it’s housed under the display which makes DYI repair very difficult.
When removing the screen, an iFixit expert cracked it which reveals that consumers will require repair services from Apple authorized service providers who are trained and have the required tools to repair the screen and battery of the Apple Watch Ultra.
Under the display, the battery and Taptic Engine are a few screws away. Here are other takeaways from the teardown of the Apple Watch Ultra besides its DYI repairability:
- Its battery is 2.1 Wh which is almost twice as large as the 1.19 Wh battery of the Apple Watch Series 8. Check out our complete comparison between the two models here.
- The battery has a hair-like cut out probably a pressure relief cut out for end-of-life battery swelling.
- Its speakers are almost 2x bigger than Apple Watch Series 8’s speakers. However, the engineer found that the Apple Watch Ultra’s Siren is not loud enough but would enable users to take phone calls in noisy environments.
- The machining of the titanium casing is impressive and the attention to detail on the antenna pass-throughs and precision component cutouts are “gorgeous”, classic Apple.
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