IFixit, the company that publishes free online repair guides for
consumer electronics, gives the new iPhone 5 a 7 out of 10 in terms of
repairability.
Apple's reputation for building hard-to-fix devices
didn't dissuade people from ordering the iPhone 5, and it turns out
that's a good thing, the Christian Science Monitor said.
After
stripping Apple's newest handset down to the core, the gadget gurus
report that the iPhone 5 is actually easier to repair than the iPhone
4S.
It isn't all rainbows and sunshine, however.
The iPhone 5 continues Apple's tradition of using unorthodox pentalobe screw to lock down the outer case.
Several
internal components are joined to a single ribbon cable, which increase
the cost of repair if just one of those components kick the bucket,
according to the Monitor Saturday.
That eye-popping Retina display
is another concern. "The front glass, digitizer, and LCD are all one
component, thereby increasing cost of repair," the iFixit team said.
On
the plus side, the front-to-back construction of the phone makes
removing the display incredibly easy and accessing the battery simple.
Previous iterations of the iPhone made removing those components a headache.
All
in all, it looks like the iPhone 5 is a winner inside and out as long
as you have a pentalobe screwdriver, that is, the Monitor added.
iPhone 5 unboxing