iPad Mini 4 Repair

Step 1 — iPad Mini 4 Teardown

• It's thinner. It's lighter. It's powerful-er. What else is it? Here's what we know from Apple:
  
  • Fully laminated, 7.9-inch (diagonal), 2048x1536 LED-backlit Multi-Touch display with IPS technology
  • Apple A8 SoC with 2nd-generation 64‑bit architecture + M8 motion coprocessor
  • 8 MP iSight camera + 1.2 MP FaceTime HD camera
  • Wi‑Fi (802.11a/​b/​g/​n/ac) with dual channel (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) and MIMO support + Bluetooth 4.2
  • 19.1 Wh rechargeable lithium-polymer battery
  • Three-axis gyro + accelerometer + ambient light sensor
• And a brand new model number: A1538

Step 2

• New Mini, new look. We lined up our new (gold) Mini 4 against our old (space gray) Mini 3, and flashbacked to our iPad Air 2 teardown. These are all the same changes!
• The 6.1 mm thick iPad Mini 4 shaves 18% off the 7.5 mm Mini 3.
• Many speaker holes are consolidated into fewer.
• The dual rear-facing microphones move to surround the iSight camera, taking up the home of the now-defunct rotation lock slider.
• And lastly, that uniform gold color hasn't changed, so your devices can still coordinate, for now (anyone remember the iPhone 5's sort-of blue color?)

Step 3

• As always, our friend iOpener is on hand to melt hearts and adhesive everywhere. <3 iOpener.
• Despite the rather brief introduction at Apple's event earlier this month, the Mini 4 is packing a pretty major overhaul—including the same fully laminated screen tech we've seen in the iPad Air 2.
  
  • This is part of what makes the Mini 4 18% thinner than the Mini 3—but it's also more expensive to fix when you drop it.
• With the adhesive softened, our tried-and-true method of suction cup and opening picks prevails once more. We're on our way inside this critter.

Step 4

• As if the fused display wasn't enough of a hint—this is looking more and more like a miniature iPad Air 2 by the minute.
• Adhering the glass and display together gives a little more rigidity to this Mini—enough to ditch the huge metal shield plate that has traditionally lived behind the LCD.
• One feature we're glad the Mini has retained: an easily disconnected battery. We'll pop that guy first, without having to bust out our isolation pick (necessary for full-sized iPads).

Step 5

• Saucer Screen separation complete. Besides sealing the display to the glass, there aren't any major changes—the Mini 4 sports the same 2048 x 1536 pixels (326 ppi) as its predecessor.
• Last year's update to the Mini series brought a single new feature, as a bit of a teaser of what was to come today: Touch ID. As such, not much there has changed, and the bracket and assembly look about the same as in the iPad Mini 3.
• The other new feature on the Mini 3 was dual blobs of hot glue to hold the button assembly down. That particular repair-hampering detail returns as well.
• The Touch ID cable is now integrated into the display cable, like on the Air 2 (and unlike on the Mini 3).

Step 6

• All right kids, it time to play Spot the Differences! The now-discontinued iPad Mini 3 on the left faces off against the contender, the new Mini 4 (right).
• Not only is the battery thinner and of lesser capacity, it's now a single cell, instead of two.
• The lower right antenna now lives in the upper right. We'll have to tear into an LTE version to see what that means for that.
• The FaceTime camera assembly is seriously slimmed down.
• Plastic spacers fill in the gaps in the Wi-Fi logic board on the Mini 4 (perhaps to provide some more support for the display).

Step 7

• This iPad is some kind of Mini/Air hybrid—half its antennas on the top, like an Air, half on the bottom like a standard Mini.
• The "right" antenna moved from its customary speaker spot, to the right of the rear-facing camera.
• This is probably a space saving measure, but maybe this Mini is secretly a flounder. º3º

Step 8

• Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and these beholders have some pretty nice specs.
• No longer the red-headed stepchild of the iPad line, the Mini 4 inherits the 8 MP iSight camera from the iPad Air, while retaining the familial 1.2 MP FaceTime camera.
• Gone also is the front-facing camera's plastic housing. Looks like Apple engineers are steadfastly streamlining the design in the Air's direction.

Step 9

• And we've struck the gold within the gold:
• Apple A8 APL1011 SoC, with SK Hynix H9CKNNN8KTBUSR 2 GB LPDDR3 SDRAM
• SK Hynix H2JTDG8UD1BMR 16 GB NAND flash
• NXP Semiconductors 65V10 NFC controller
• NXP Semiconductors LPC18B1UK (Apple M8 motion co-processor)
• Apple 338S1213 audio codec
• NXP CBTL1610A1 (Tristar2) USB Switch IC

Step 10

• And a few more on the tail end:
• Universal Scientific Industrial 339S00045 Wi-Fi module. (The iPad Mini 3 used the 339S0213 )
• Broadcom BCM5976 digitizer controller
• Texas Instruments 343S0583, as seen on the iPad Air 2

Step 11

• iPad Mini 4 Repairability: 2 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair).
  
  • The battery is still not soldered to the logic board.
  • The LCD and front panel glass are now fused together. This slightly simplifies the opening procedure.
  • The fused front panel also increases the cost of repairing a cracked screen, and increases risk of damage to the LCD when opening.
  • The Lightning connector is soldered to the logic board, so don't bend its pins.
  • Gobs of adhesive hold everything in place making all repairs more difficult.
  • Removing the home button is a tough but required job for display replacement if you want to keep Touch ID functionality.