Apple iPhone 5 Teardown

(gratuitous interim post in celebration of Apple’s new toy. . .)

Source: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Image/meta/ipuKf63xOMIt3T1m

The fine folks at iFixit have published yet another skillful teardown, this time of the new Apple iPhone 5. Yes, they buy brand new and expensive computers and the like just to render them into their component parts . . . so they can figure out what it is going to take to repair them when they start to break. Go ahead, follow the link. Their teardowns are filled with thoughtful (and pithy) editorial commentary on reparability, and also frequently their surmise on design, construction and sourcing philosophy.

Granting that we have all seen the results of skillful and expert teardowns first hand in class, this might be a bit anticlimactic, but it is well worth a look anyhow.

From the sourcing side, I would encourage careful attention to the components, each of which is going to have a complex supply-chain story of its own.

Source: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Image/meta/6wSwQDSxsENkhPXC

Question:

Each of the components is a complex finished good in its own right. How many layers of iteration would you need to pursue, on average, for each of the components before you got back to raw materials?

Reference:

IFixit – “The free repair manual you can edit.”