iPhone 16 teardown shows new simpler replaceable battery system

The iPhone 16 lineup include a few advancements in repairability. Perhaps, the most significant hardware change is a new type of battery adhesive, that allows for simpler and safer battery replacements once the frame of the phone has been taken off.

iFixit demonstrates this in action in its teardown video. By applying a low-voltage electrical current, the adhesive holding the battery down releases, and the battery cleanly pops out of the phone chassis.

Previous iPhone batteries are held down by normal glue, intended to be removed by way of four stretchy pull tabs. This is finicky and sometimes the pull tabs fail, giving the technician no choice but to lever the battery out with a tool. If the battery is damaged at all during this process, there’s a significant risk of fire.

The new electrically-activated adhesive holding down the battery in the iPhone 16 avoids all of that pain. Simply attach alligator clips connected up to a power source and the iPhone battery cell comes out on its own.

You can see this happen in the video here, which also includes a teardown of the fancy new Camera Control:

The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus feature this new repair process. The batteries in the 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max still have pull tabs, although their cells are now encased in a new metal enclosure. Assuming everything goes well with the 16s, you can imagine the new electrical adhesive rolling out to all iPhone models (and perhaps, other Apple devices) in the coming years.