Apple’s latest iPhone is receiving praise from an unusual source, with iFixit saying it’s easier to repair than previous models.
iPhones have notoriously been difficult to repair, often earning some of iFixit’s lowest repairability ratings. The latest iPhone 14 appears to be a departure from that, with iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens calling it “the most significant design change to the iPhone in a long time.”
After noting that the iPhone 14 doesn’t look different than its predecessor, Wiens points out that it has an all-new butterfly-style design that allows it to open from both the front and the back.
“This is the iPhone 14 reborn as a beautiful butterfly—a midframe in the middle, accessible screen on the left, and removable rear glass on the right,” Wiens continues.
“That’s no small feat. The new metal midframe that supports the structure required an entire internal redesign, as well as an RF rethink and an effective doubling of their ingress protection perimeter. In other words, Apple has gone back to the drawing board and reworked the iPhone’s internals to make repair easier. It’s an upgrade so seamless that the best tech reviewers in the world didn’t notice.”
iFixit’s findings are good news for iPhone users, especially at a time when Apple has rolled out its Self Service Repair Program for iPhones and MacBooks.