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This teardown is not a repair guide. To repair your Apple Watch Series 6, use our service manual.

  1. Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown, Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 1, image 1 of 3 Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown, Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 1, image 2 of 3 Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown, Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 1, image 3 of 3
    • Outward comparison of the Series 6 (right) with its one-year-old sibling (left) reveals only subtle differences, but that's what teardowns are for. These details we already know:

    • LTPO OLED Retina display optimized for always-on functionality—this time without Force Touch

    • 64-bit dual-core Apple S6 SiP (System in Package)

    • Updated sensor array measuring heart rate, ECG, and now blood oxygen levels

    • Compass and realtime altimeter

    • Water resistance to a depth of 50 meters

    • Today's teardown victim is a 44 mm GPS + LTE model, purchased at retail in Germany—but we've also got a 40 mm model that may make a guest appearance, should any interesting comparisons arise.

  2. Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 2, image 1 of 3 Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 2, image 2 of 3 Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 2, image 3 of 3
    • Underneath the stretchy new watchband, confirmation that this is indeed a new Apple Watch—model number A2376—and not merely some blue-hued lookalike.

    • The other band slot features …nothing at all, so our photo editor indulged in a bit of tech fantasy and added a combination lock—as if opening the case could be so easy. Alas, we expect the same ol' opening procedure we perform every year.

    • Well, almost the same: In a surprise twist, the Series 6 takes after newer (post-6s) iPhones and opens to the side like a book!

    • The procedure is also slightly simplified due to the absence of a Force Touch gasket—a feature now defunct as of watchOS 7.

    • We're happy to see a fragile, damage-prone part retired, but sad to see the final nail in the coffin for Apple's nifty pressure-sensitive display technology. We're torn, but we'll call this a win.

    Emotionally torn, but hopefully less torn flex cables

    Andy Miller - Reply

    I’m confused about force touch gone from the AppleWatch 6 I just upgraded to. I was wholly unaware they were killing that and spent ages trying to “Clear All” notifications that way as before with the Series 4 I upgraded from. I finally discovered the swipe down to see the “Clear All,” but it’s confusing because Force Touch still brings up watch face edits.

    So is it gone or not?

    Mick - Reply

    It’s just a long press to edit the watch face - not force touch.

    Albert Wood -

    Does the aluminium still have a ceramic back?

    Stuart Harris - Reply

    I think so (according to the Apple website)

    Jim D -

    @Albert Wood.

    it’s weird because if feels much like force touch with haptic feedback, not unlike the Series 4 watch I’m selling to finance the 6. It doesn’t feel like a long press/hold and the haptic feedback makes it feel as if it’s giving a little. Slightly less than before, stiffer, but I’m still shocked to read here that they have removed force touch and yet there’s this.

    Mick - Reply

    Glad to hear it is the same opening procedure. Do you mind sharing in this tear down what that procedure might be or do we need to go back through all of the archives till we find one that doesn’t same ‘same as before’?

    Joe Ivie - Reply

  3. Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 3, image 1 of 3 Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 3, image 2 of 3 Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 3, image 3 of 3
    Tool used on this step:
    iFixit Opening Picks (Set of 6)
    $4.99
    Buy
    • Safety first! Let's get this battery disconnected. The connector is still hidden underneath the battery, but a quick flip from an opening pick takes care of that.

    • Subtract one tiny tri-point and one teeny bracket and this wee powerhouse is a freed powerhouse.

    • The 44 mm Watch cell is rated at 1.17 Wh—a slight increase over the Series 5, but not quite at the level of the 1.3 Wh Galaxy Watch3.

    • The smaller 40 mm Series 6 retains the radical metal-pouch design introduced on the Series 5, now with a 1.024 Wh capacity.

    • We're a little surprised the larger model still doesn't get the new battery design this year—we thought Watches might follow the pattern set by the iPhone, where Max models got the new battery design in its second year.

    • Summing up: that's a 3.5% increase for the 44 mm battery, and an even bigger 8.5% increase for the 40 mm from their Series 5 counterparts.

    • Slowly but surely, Apple Watches seem to be clawing back capacity after the big drop from Series 3 to Series 4.

    I have a clicking sound when i press my aple watch 6 on the bottom is it caused by the metal bracket inside in gold ??

    danger.alaa - Reply

  4. Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 4, image 1 of 3 Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 4, image 2 of 3 Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 4, image 3 of 3
    • The Series 6 features a new, brighter display than the Series 5. It's also brighter on the inside!

    • This year's model not only eschews that pesky Force Touch gasket, it also has fewer display connectors to wrestle. The NFC cable is now routed through a display-side jumper—and there's only one grounding cable. We love streamlined design, especially when it simplifies repairs!

    • Aside from the aforementioned changes, these displays (Series 5 on the left, 6 on the right) look about the same to the naked eye.

    • That said, we did bend a newly-placed spring contact during opening, so maybe wait for our repair guides before you bust these bad boys open.

    • Teardown update: Here's a closer look at the display, X-ray style. This shows the smaller, 40 mm model's screen, which we stripped apart for our YouTube audience.

  5. Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 5, image 1 of 3 Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 5, image 2 of 3 Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 5, image 3 of 3
    • At first glance, the tri-point-trapped Taptic Engine seems old hat—but it turns out to be bigger than the one in the 5. Maybe the slimmed-down Series 4 shaker wasn't up to snuff?

    • It's also made using 100% recycled rare earth metals and tungsten this time, which is awesome. (But let's not forget, reuse > recycling.)

    • Update: Since we've got Creative Electron's X-rays on tap, here's a nifty bonus image of the Taptic Engine's innards. Shake and bake!

    • More battery and more Taptic Engine—Apple mentioned neither of these in their announcement, but it seems they've quietly pulled out all the stops this year.

    • With all the brawn out of the way, it's time to tackle the brains of this operation: the S6 SiP. Even with our trusty tools, this intricate maze of cabling and hidden screws is no picnic.

    • But as usual, time + tools + technique prevails! At last this Watch regurgitates its remaining contents.

    Golden tape between connectors in the middle picture is isolation tape?

    Alexandru Caracuda - Reply

  6. Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 6, image 1 of 3 Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 6, image 2 of 3 Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 6, image 3 of 3
    • Like most brains, the grey matter in this Series 6 is pretty inscrutable: it's encased in hardened resin, as per usual, making further exploration extremely difficult.

    • Update: Unless you have an X-ray machine, that is! Here's an inside look at the S6 package. If you're wondering what all the tiny shapes are, check out the original Apple Watch X-ray teardown for an explainer.

    • There are a few more conventional ICs piggybacked onto the package, and we can at least spot a Skyworks chip marked 239-7. The other chips are more mysterious, and none is an exact match for the U1 chip we found in last year's iPhones.

    • It was probably too much to ask for a labeled U1 package, but there has been more obvious printing in the past.

    • Sans-brains, we can see the Series 6 frame has a slightly modified footprint with a narrower lip for the adhesive gasket, which is now carefully routed around the band mechanism.

    • The modified case and lack of Force Touch gasket probably accounts for the fact that this year's model is a hair thinner, with overall thickness at 10.4 mm (down from 10.74 mm last year).

    • Apple somehow packed more battery and more Taptic Engine into a (barely) smaller design. Impressive!

  7. Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 7, image 1 of 1
    • We interrupt this program to bring you some x-ray speculation:

    • Processor and memory (SDRAM/NAND Flash) Package on Package

    • Power Management IC

    • WiFi / Bluetooth SoC

    • Microcontroller

  8. Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 8, image 1 of 3 Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 8, image 2 of 3 Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 8, image 3 of 3
    • Fused display up top, fused sensor array below—we won't find anything but broken pieces if we bust this apart, so let's switch on those X-rays from Creative Electron again for a better look.

    • The dark rectangle in the center is a dense magnet for centering the charger (and may also help wick away heat from the S6 package). It's surrounded by the control board for the down-firing LEDs and sensors, and the ropey coils of copper for the inductive charger.

    • And here's the (reassembled) pulse oximeter communicating with aliens lighting up in Christmas-y fashion!

    • By shining red, green, and infrared light into your skin, then sensing via photodiode how it bounces back, the watch can tell how oxygenated your blood is (redder means more oxygen).

    • Low blood oxygen levels (hypoxemia) can be an indication of COVID-19 or other serious medical issues.

    • The Apple Watch doesn't track body temp like the Oura Ring 2 does. But while both measurements are informative, neither is meant to provide hospital-grade certainty.

    • As a reminder, we're not health experts—so read up! Find out more about how blood oxygen tracking works at CNET, or a lot more at the Respiratory Medicine journal.

  9. Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 9, image 1 of 2 Apple Watch Series 6 Teardown: step 9, image 2 of 2
    • Leaving all the tiny tri-point screws out of the picture for clarity, we feast our eyes on the latest edition of Apple's mobile health diagnostic machine timepiece.

    • Repair-wise, we're happy to see the fussy Force Touch gasket gone, and only two fragile cables tethering the display.

    • Thicker rubber-like adhesive on the display and back plate also safeguards the watch against unwanted ingress (or in our specific case, wanted ingress).

    • Despite the almost imperceptibly thinner design, Apple packed in brand-new sensors in addition to the larger-capacity battery and beefier Taptic Engine.

    • They just keep polishing this thing to a higher and higher gloss and it’s almost sneaky how much of it they don’t tell you about, keeping all the focus on the whiz-bang health features.

    • Huge thanks to Creative Electron for partnering up with us once again! They're responsible for all the mind-bending X-rays in this teardown.

  10. Final Thoughts
    • Screen replacements are difficult but possible. The screen is the first thing to come off, and detaches via ZIF connectors.
    • Battery replacements are reasonably straightforward, once you're inside.
    • Tiny tri-point screws throughout the watch can be difficult to remove and keep track of.
    • Several component flex cables are mounted directly to the S6 package, requiring skilled microsoldering to replace if they are torn.
    Repairability Score
    6
    Repairability 6 out of 10
    (10 is easiest to repair)

Tobias Isakeit

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28 Comments

I found the hidden easter egg: Sweet playing “Love is Like Oxygen.” Nicely done.

Ed Hardy - Reply

What the heck is that little 3 digit rotation lock thing? Did it ever connect to anything?

Richie Crews - Reply

If you had read the beginning of this article properly you’d have seen that the “lock” had been added as a smile inducer… Or in other words it doesn’t exist! D’OH!!!

Thorvald-Rhys Bjørnson -

Any idea where all of the antennas are??

> NFC

> Bluetooth

> WiFi

> Celular

And now the U1 chip which appears to need three for X-Y-Z for spatial awareness and precise location tracking capabilities!

Dan - Reply

The patent describes Liquidmetal a.k.a bulk metallic glass, which will allow the radio signals through.

K. OKeefe -

Amorphous_metal is not radio transparent! The problem you face is the the melting point of the material and what you are casting it in needs to be higher. Here ceramic or glass would be questionable! From what I understand the amorphous metal would alter back to a crystalize state altering its characteristics.

Liquid metal is something very different.

Dan -

hi Dan,

trying to figure out the same question too. any luck if finding the antennas, and especially the UWB antenna? even a single one?

for ranging - which is UWB for initially - placing the antennas tight on the wrist might interfere with the accuracy of measurement done by other devices (such as the iPhone 11), polarisation may have additional influence -both on range and accuracy. so it is interesting to see what they did with the antenna.

E.Y. -

Anyway of telling if the following patent was implemented in this watch?

https://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-a...

K. OKeefe - Reply

If the case was a molded plastic I could see it. Ceramic or Glass would require a sandwich of some sort as you couldn’t have it too close the the base case, it also couldn’t be casted in-place (ceramic is what I believe the sensor base is made of).

So that only leaves the display crystal or the sensor base. I could only find two possible antenna connections both within the sensor plate (coax connection and a small gold tab). If you know radio waves, you know your body doesn’t let signals pass through it very well at the frequencies being used here. so that limits the edge area of the plate.

I don’t see all of the radios sharing the same antenna so we are still short ;-{

Dan -

I received my apple watch 6 yesterday (17/09/2020). the button ( Digital Crown) does not work very well. is it a repairable part? apple will send me a new watch? thank you for your work !

Alexis moi - Reply

Contact Apple for a warranty exchange (defective on arrival) ASAP!

Dan -

“The other band slot features …nothing at all, so our photo editor indulged in a bit of tech fantasy and added a combination lock”

Well guys, you’ve lost my trust…

Not everybody has the time to read your silly “tech fantasy” description, attached to manipulated photos…

Stop manipulating technical photos, if you want to be taken seriously…

D W - Reply

this is a teardown, not a repair guide. ifixit teardowns always have this type of humor.

Crystal Haugh -

Guys please help. The staff of a store inserted the sim ejection tool in the little hole on the right side of the watch thinking that it was the sim tray. I think that is the microphone. The watch is 24 hours old. I tested and everything works but I am worried; I have read that the microphone is placed not aligned to prevent accidental damage like in these circumstances. Is that true? And what about the water proofing? Thanks in advance for your help.

francesco.meca - Reply

You have a Catch22 problem! You would need to open the watch up to inspect for damage, but the act of opening it would void the waterproofness!

Best to return the watch and get another!

Dan -

Thanks for your answer. There is no apparent reason for me to return the watch as the microphone is working; what could I say to the store? It is not their problem if an incompetent staff of another store did something wrong, or at least I think so

francesco.meca -

They are responsible for their staffs training! They are on the hook for sure. As I didn’t see what they did I can only tell you what would be required to check things. The only thing left is to get the Apple extended warranty coverage. I would get them to pay for half of it. Did you make a fuss? So they know their employee messed up? If not then you’ll need to fork over the full amount to ease your mind of future issues.

Dan -

I agree but this was an employee of a tlc store, not Apple. I am in Vietnam, no official stores, just authorized resellers. I did complain about their carelessness but here it is just useless because it is the norm. I would say that as the Mike works, I would not risk to invalidate the warranty to have it opened. Maybe I can purchase a AppleCare+, in any case.

francesco.meca -

Hello, what is inside that hole right next to the crown? I I thought it was a SIM card release mechanism and pushed a SIM card key (the one I got with my iPhone) quite hard into it as worry that i have damaged something in there? Thanks for your help.

Lu Han - Reply

The hole is the microphone! The slots on the other side are the speaker grills. Why would you think the AppleWatch has a SIM?? It uses an eSIM like your newer iPhones.

Dan - Reply

Thanks Dan. Do you think I have broken / pierced something in there? The mic definitely works perfectly. I’m more concerned about letting water into the watch when swimming. (P.s I thought it has a sim because I’m unfamiliar with it and it looks just like the sim slot on my iPhone. )

Lu Han -

Where can i buy a replacement back glass for my Apple Watch 6?

Ali Alfarhan - Reply

for Apple Watch series 6 screen replacement, where is the nfc chip that would need to be swapped out with my original broken screen/lcd that would make Apple Pay still work?

William Helmke - Reply

The exposed Copper surface is an EMI shield protecting the circuits under the Taptic engine

Dan - Reply

Can the side button on an Apple Watch 6 be replaced or repaired?

James Scarberry - Reply

Yes, but its’ a big job as you need to take most of the watch apart.

Dan -

Hi, does anyone know which component is responsible for detecting the temperature in case of overheating of the watch?

Cool Blade - Reply

Within the SIP module is where the thermal sensor resides for the logic and the battery it’s self has a sensor.

Dan -

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