iPhone 16 teardown shows off a new way to attach a phone battery

As soon as the iPhone 16 lineup was announced, iFixit staff Beginning to decomposeNow, the process has been made easier with Apple releasing the repair manual on launch day: the teardown process reveals that the camera controls are actually working buttons, a flex cable that appears to be measuring force, and a heat sink that’s likely in place to keep the A18 chip’s neural engine cool while it’s handling AI workloads.

After removing the battery from the board, run a current from a power source (a 9 volt battery for 90 seconds should suffice) and the glued battery will easily come off under gravity alone. Then you just need to apply pressure to glue the new battery on.

Apple notes that this could take longer over time, but on these newer phones, iFixit found that using 20V of current was enough to break the adhesive in five seconds, and Apple says that up to 30V can be used. iFixit also noted that Close-up images taken with a microscope are also included. It has a frame that holds the battery and machined ridges to hold the battery in place.