As with every major gadget launch, iFixit took to the internets last night to do a live teardown of the iPad mini. The device launches tomorrow in Canada for $329, and while iFixit’s findings don’t reveal any thing particular newsworthy, it does confirm a few things we already suspected.
First, the iPad mini is the first Apple tablet to come with stereo speakers, likely owed to the space saved from the new Lightning port. This makes it more-than-likey the fifth generation iPad will sport a similar design. Judging from early reviews, the lack of physical speaker separation renders the addition largely superfluous — there’s no real dynamic range — but it’s still a welcome find.
Samsung is still in the Apple display game, according to the teardown. Despite rumours to the contrary, it appears that Samsung Display is responsible for at least some of the screens in Apple’s diminutive iPad.
The iPad mini, as expected, sports a dual-core A5 chip, but it’s now been confirmed that it has 512MB of DDR2 RAM. The internal hardware, therefore, is almost identical to the iPad 2, except for the slightly smaller 16.3Whr 4400mAh battery. Then there’s the soldered-to-the-motherboard Lightning port and the considerable amount of adhesive sticking everything together, making the iPad mini extremely difficult to repair. iFixit determined that few users will want to venture into the depths of this device, giving it a 2 out of 10 for repairability.
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