The gang at iFixIt, who tears apart tech products so you don’t have to, has completed its teardown of the Apple Watch Series 2. They say that, or the most part, the Series 2 is a typical second revision Apple device: it looks almost exactly the same on the outside, but it’s super refined and a bit easier to work with on the inside.
The old standard S1 System-in-Package processing unit got upgraded to the S2, and in the process was flipped completely over. Now all of those pesky soldered connections are actually on the same side of the board as the things they connect to. iFixIt says that eplacing many components will still require micro-soldering, but will not require removing everything from the inside of the watch first.
Apple Watch Series 2 teardown highlights:
What makes the Series 2 so water resistant? Better, stronger adhesive. A whole lot of gaskets and o-rings. And a speaker equipped to eject water from itself.
The battery cell in our 38 mm watch is rated at 3.77 V and 273 mAh to yield a whopping 1.03 Wh of power. This battery offers a full 32% increase in power over the previous generation—most likely to compensate for the addition of GPS capability.
The Taptic Engine in the Series 2 is noticeably larger, and there’s a new GPS antenna tucked away at the top of the watch.
Thanks to easier-to-navigate display connectors and improved cable management, the Series 2 earned a 6 out of 10 on iFixIt’s repairability scale—a whole point higher than the original Apple Watch.
