Over the weekend, well-known repair website iFixit shared an iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus teardown video, and an accompanying blog post. Notably, the video shows Apple's new electrical battery removal process in action on the standard iPhone 16.
iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus batteries have an innovative type of adhesive that can be easily loosened with low-voltage electrical current, such as from a 9V battery. The steps involved include attaching alligator clips to a 9V battery, connecting the red/positive clip to the silver tab on the iPhone's battery, and connecting the black/negative clip to the lower-right grounding screw on the iPhone's bottom speaker module. After up to 90 seconds, the adhesive should debond and the battery can then be easily taken out of the iPhone.
iFixit described this new process as "revolutionary," and explained how it works:
Imagine an Oreo cookie with a thick layer of double-stuf creme. You figured out that if you dip just the bottom cookie in some milk and twist the cookie apart, the filling will always stick to the top cookie.
Similarly, when we zap the adhesive, the current oxidizes the negative/anode mating surface and loosens the adhesive from it. The adhesive "filling" between the battery and the frame will then stick to whichever surface that’s connected to the positive terminal.
In an email, iFixit said the iPhone 16 is "the most-repairable iPhone yet":
We're giving the phone a laudable 7 out of 10 repairability score (provisional, pending Apple's release of parts). It's not the Fairphone, but Apple's made some important strides in improving hardware repairability, and ending parts pairing restrictions for harvested OEM parts is a huge boon for the repair community.
Only the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus use this new process. iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max batteries still have stretch-release adhesive pull tabs.
iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, and iPhone 16 Pro Max batteries still have a black foil enclosure, while the iPhone 16 Pro battery has moved to a metal enclosure, which increases repair safety and likely contributes to improved heat dissipation.
