The iPhone 5 gets teardown treatment

It’s iPhone 5 launch day, which means it’s iPhone 5 teardown day.For some, getting their hands on the latest Apple gadget meant getting to put their screwdriver to the test. The new device is now being investigated in extreme detail by enthusiasts around the country. Case in point – iFixit.

Among the more interesting discoveries are that the home button has an integrated metal support, meaning it won’t wear down as easily. In addition, there is a pop-out ear speaker and the case opens front to back. The latter indicates that the device will be more accessible for things like repairs and maintenance.

The construction and the placement of the display is similar to that of the iPhone 3GS. There is a 28nm Qualcomm MDM9615M chip under the hood which provides the 4G connectivity including LTE.

In all, there isn’t a huge surprise about what comes packed into the iPhone 5, and after the unveiling of the device it’s hard to say we expected much.

The phone is truly just an incremental upgrade over the iPhone 4S. The lack of any sort of disruptive technology additions like NFC shows that this is mainly just an iPhone 4S with a bigger screen and LTE capabilities – both of which are features that other competitors have had for a while – and not much else.

Nevertheless, Apple fanatics lines up outside stores for hours or even days to get their hands on it.