iPhone 7 Teardown Reveals That 3.5mm Audio Jack Is Replaced by Barometric Vent

Apple is known to remain discreet on specification details in every iPhone keynote, and this year is no different. The company does not unveil RAM and battery size, and teardowns done later reveal the exact innards. After the iPhone 7 Plus, the iPhone 7 has also been ripped apart by do-it-yourself repair site iFixit to see if Apple delivers on its promises.

(Also see: iPhone 7 Chipworks Teardown)

The teardown reveals that there is a 1960mAh battery housed inside the iPhone 7, which is a significant upgrade to the 1715mAh one found on the iPhone 6s. It is rated for a capacity of 7.45 Wh-a notable increase from the 6.55 Wh battery in last year's model. According to Apple, the battery will provide up to 14 hours of 3G talk time, 14 hours of Wi-Fi internet browsing, and 10 days of standby. Also, iFixit cheekily adds that it doesn't explode.

(Also see: iPhone 7 Plus iFixit Teardown Reveals 3GB RAM)

It shows that the iPhone 7 is indeed powered by the A10 Fusion APL1W24 SoC paired alongside Samsung-made 2GB module of LPDDR4 RAM. Also on board is the Qualcomm MDM9645M LTE Cat. 12 Modem - a finding that contradicts Chipworks' teardown, hinting there might be more than variant of the smartphone. The place where the 3.5mm audio jack used to be, is now replaced by a piece of plastic sitting behind the ingress protection. This plastic sheet was also seen on the larger variant, and according to a statement by Apple to The Verge, it is a 'barometric vent' enabling the iPhone 7 to measure altitude more accurately. Because of the absence of the audio jack, there's also more space for the Taptic engine to serve home button more efficiently.

The entire rundown confirms that Apple has gone to lengths to make the iPhone 7 waterproof (even the SIM tray has a rubber gasket). Display repairability is eased as the smartphone opens like a book now, exposing the screen's innards first. iFixit also notes that damage to the phone is greatly reduced because of the water and dust proofing, but repairability also becomes a tad bit more difficult because of the ingress protection everywhere. In any case, the company gave the iPhone 7 a repairability score of 7 out of 10, just like the larger variant. Interestingly, the predecessor iPhone 6s also got the same score from iFixit last year.