iFixit iPad Air Teardown: A12 Bionic Processor With 3GB of RAM, Larger Battery, Bluetooth 5

iFixit has shared the results of another one of their popular Apple device teardowns. This time around, they take apart the new iPad Air tablet.

The iPad Air replaces the 2017 10.5-inch iPad Pro, and is identical in size and thickness, but is slightly lighter than the Pro. Differences noted in the teardown are: a new, darker Space Gray color, no camera bump, and two speakers compared to the Pro’s four. The model number of the disassembly subject: A2152.

Upon opening the new iPad Air, iFixit discovered that the internal layout and central logic board were similar to Apple’s 2017 iPad Pro. One pleasant surprise: the dual-celled 30.8 Wh battery inside the Pro is slightly larger than the 30.2 Wh power cell Apple advertises.

The new tablet is powered by Apple’s A12 Bionic processor, boasting 3GB of RAM. The rear camera is an 8 megapixel shooter.

The new iPad Air supports only the first-generation Apple Pencil, and lacks ProMotion 120 Hz display technology found on the old 10.5 iPad Pro.

The chips found inside the iPad Air include:

• Apple APL1W81 A12 Bionic SoC layered over 3 GB SK Hynix H9HKNNNDBMMUYRLPDDR4X RAM
• Toshiba TSB3243V40755TWNA1 64 GB NAND flash
• Apple 343S00281-A0 1907PHFJ (likely PMIC)
• Apple/Universal Scientific Industrial USI 39S00551 Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module (as seen in the iPhone XS)
• 2x Broadcom BCM15900B0 touch screen controllers
• 343S00264-A0 1909PHHP

The new iPad Air proved to be tougher to take apart than the 10.5-inch iPad Pro that it replaces, lacking the Pro’s stretch-release adhesive pull tabs and but it does include extra adhesive near the top of the screen. This gained the iPad Air a 2/10 repairability score, the same score earned yesterday by the new iPad mini.

For a more detailed rundown of the new iPad Air’s internals, visit the iFixit website.