The Apple Pencil stylus accessory was one of the most-praised parts of the newly-launched iPad Pro — which, naturally, means that our friends at iFixit were tripping over one another to pull it apart and scoop through its gory innards like geeky zombies with a taste for tech components.
Here’s what they discovered in their customary teardown.
For starters, there’s the fact that the Apple Pencil contains a 3.82 V, 0.329 Wh lithium-ion battery, which holds just 5 percent charge of an iPhone 6s battery. There’s also a 1.0 gram logic board the master dissecters at iFixit describe as “definitely the smallest we’ve ever seen.” In order to fit it into the tiny space available, Apple’s engineers opted to fold this in half.
After praising the repairability of some recent Apple devices, iFixit notes that Apple is back to its old ways with the Apple Pencil — with the website awarding the accessory a 1 out of 10 for repairability, with layers of plastic and metal holding the interior components which are impossible to remove without destroying.
Unlike some rival styluses, the battery is also impossible to replace, which means that the Apple Pencil has a limited lifespan.
Fortunately, you’re unlikely to break it accidentally — as was revealed in a recent stress test we covered here at Cult of Mac.
You can check out the rest of iFixit’s Apple Pencil report here.
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
2 responses to “Don’t even think about trying to repair your Apple Pencil”
How could anyone imagine such a delicate thing would be repairable? Why, why do we insist on this I don’t understand…
You can’t fix it if you don’t have it! NYC stores have been getting daily shipments (30-40 per store), but they are rapidly being snatched up (when doors open) by people buying multiples and then selling them on Ebay. Yet, Apple is STILL refusing to reserve Pencils in-store for those of us who have already shelled out $1200 for our Pros on launch day. Apple is making us wait 4-5 wks. People with jobs can’t go to these stores at 9:00 am when they open to get one! Shame on Apple!