iPhone 11 Pro Teardown Reveals Bigger Batteries and Smaller Logic Board
A new iFixit teardown shows that Apple's iPhone 11 Pro models feature significantly larger batteries and a reduced logic board to accommodate a triple-camera setup. The removal of 3D Touch allows for a thinner display and more internal space.
iFixit disassembles Apple's newest iPhone 11 Pro models to reveal several major internal hardware changes compared to last year's devices. The most notable discovery is a significant increase in battery size, with the iPhone 11 Pro Max packing a 3,969 mAh battery that represents a nearly 25 percent year-over-year improvement over the iPhone XS Max. This larger power source combines with the efficient A13 chip to deliver substantially longer battery life for users.
The teardown shows that Apple frees up valuable internal space by completely removing the 3D Touch hardware layer, making the display slightly thinner. This extra room allows the standard iPhone 11 Pro to retain its L-shaped single-cell battery, while the Max model upgrades from a dual-cell setup to a single-cell design. Additionally, Apple shrinks the logic board to make room for the significantly larger triple-camera module.
Despite Apple's recent legal settlement with Qualcomm, the teardown confirms that the modem inside the iPhone 11 Pro is still manufactured by Intel. iFixit also discovers a second battery connector that sparks speculation about a canceled bilateral wireless charging feature, though its exact purpose remains unconfirmed. Ultimately, iFixit awards the iPhone 11 Pro a repairability score of 6 out of 10, matching the score of the previous generation.