iPad Mini Teardown Reveals Samsung Display Chip Claims iFixit.com
iFixit Brands the iPad Mini Tablet Virtually Impenetrable, No Repair-it-Yourself Screws
Gadget teardown specialist iFixit recently got hold of the iPad Mini and pried open the latest Apple product to hit global stores for the holiday shopping season. So what's inside the latest Apple gadget?
The small tablet turned out difficult to tinker with, the tech site concluded, as Apple deliberately used adhesives and small screws to hold together the components cramped inside the Mini, which simply adhered to the established business paradigm of the tech giant - keeping the Apple architecture out of reach by most everyone.
"This iPad contains some of the smallest screws we have ever seen," iFixit said.
But obviously, as in previous times, iFixit and other teardown sites proved the company wrong. And one more important thing affirmed with opening the Mini: it'll require great effort to self-repair the tablet as it garnered a lowly score of 2 on iFixit's reparability benchmark chart.
Prior the to the Mini's unveiling, experts said the gadget will likely resemble the iPod Touch, an assumption that according to iFixit is not too far from the truth as the inside assembly of the tablet took after many attributes found deep within Apple's bestselling music player.
"All this prying and disconnecting is reminding us a lot of our recent iPod Touch teardown," noted the popular tech site.
Another notable discovery by iFixit experts is the Mini's stereo speakers, giving it an advantage over the earlier editions of the regular iPad.
The biggest surprise unearthed in tearing apart the tablet is the brand printed on the display chips that came with the Mini.
"Though the markings on the back of the LCD (display) don't turn up much information, the Samsung display driver IC (chip) reveals that Apple, once again, went with Samsung in its display manufacturing," iFixit revealed following its probe.
This specific finding proved that Samsung remains in the Apple supply chain despite earlier reports that the two tech giants have accelerated the winding down of their unique business partnership.
The iPad Mini is scheduled to hit stores beginning today and experts expect the tablet to sell briskly notwithstanding gripes on its relatively steep price, when compared to rivals within the 7-plus-inch screen tablets, and the conspicuous withholding of the Retina display technology from the tablet.
Early reviewers were in agreement that iPad Mini is yet again an Apple revenue generator but will annihilate its nearest competitors - Amazon's Kindle Fire HD and Google's Nexus, which sport better hardware specs and lower price tags.