Skip to main content

What you need

Video Overview

This teardown is not a repair guide. To repair your HTC One M8, use our service manual.

  1. HTC One (M8) Teardown, HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 1, image 1 of 2 HTC One (M8) Teardown, HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 1, image 2 of 2
    • For its second act, the HTC One brings some impressive props. The lengthy list of hardware includes:

    • Quad-core, 2.3 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor

    • 2 GB RAM

    • 5" 1080p display with dual front-facing speakers

    • 4 MP (2 "ultrapixel") f/2.0 rear Duo Camera with dual flash; 5.0 megapixel front-facing camera

    • 16 or 32 GB on-board storage; up to 128 GB additional storage via microSD

    • LTE, Bluetooth 3.0, NFC, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and IR blaster

    • The immediate question is whether the M8 will prove more cooperative than its nigh-unrepairable predecessor, whose hardware secrets had to be pried from its mangled aluminum corpse.

  2. HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 2, image 1 of 3 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 2, image 2 of 3 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 2, image 3 of 3
    • While we ponder our plan of attack, we pause to appreciate the One M8's appealing—albeit inscrutable—brushed metal design.

    • Dual rear cameras, dual flash—despite being dubbed the One, this phone likes its Twos.

    • Spinning the M8 around, we find the first of another pair—two card trays straddling the upper end of the phone (microSD and SIM).

    • Maybe we can just call it the One-Two? No? Moving on...

    • The extra rear camera captures depth information, enabling a host of trick features like ex post facto focus adjustments and background removal. We can hardly wait to dig our spudgers in and see how it comes apart.

    • But first: an homage to Miro-senpai.

  3. HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 4, image 1 of 3 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 4, image 2 of 3 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 4, image 3 of 3
    Tool used on this step:
    iOpener
    $19.99
    Buy
    • Looking for a point of entry, we surprise the One M8 with a spicy hot iOpener.

    • With the underlying glue sufficiently softened, we strum away with a guitar pick until the first screw peeks through.

    • Screws! Glorious screws! Here's the missing link to make this unibody design repairable. Whenever we see gobs of adhesive and tough clips replaced with screws, we know we're in for a (slightly) happier time.

    • Just like that, the One M8's first line of defense is down—with the power of the Pro Tech Screwdriver Set, these screws are deftly dispatched.

  4. HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 5, image 1 of 3 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 5, image 2 of 3 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 5, image 3 of 3
    Tool used on this step:
    iFixit Opening Picks (Set of 6)
    $4.99
    Buy
    • We're on a roll. Gaining momentum, we free the M8's guts from its rear case with the power of rock n' roll guitar picks.

    • We're happy to get this far, but we're not sure this will be a platinum record for repairability. There's only one way to find out: Keep on rockin'.

  5. HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 6, image 1 of 3 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 6, image 2 of 3 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 6, image 3 of 3
    • Here's where things turned ugly during our teardown of the first-gen HTC One (the phone that garnered the all-time worst repairability score of any smartphone we've ever had on the teardown table.)

    • To our delight, the pesky display cables of yesteryear have given way to spring contacts—so this time, the phone assembly comes out cleanly.

    • No mangled aluminum here—the rear case remains intact. Apart from the NFC antenna and some nice machine work, there's not much to see.

    • The rear case weighs in at 27.5 grams.

    • The remaining assembly is a fair sight less tidy. A mass of copper shielding and tape awaits...

  6. HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 7, image 1 of 3 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 7, image 2 of 3 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 7, image 3 of 3
    • Next, we spudge up the battery connector.

    • Shocky the Bear says, "Only you can prevent electronic shocking."

    • We start working our way through what looks like aeons of tape strata. Digging through the entire Earth's supply of tape feels a little like a chest burster emerging from a ribcage.

    • We're free! Well, except for the billion cables yet to be disconnected.

    • Billion meaning approximately ten.

  7. HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 8, image 1 of 1
  8. HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 9, image 1 of 1
    • The shields are down! Here's what we found lurking below:

    • Elpida FA164A2PM 2 GB RAM + Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core 2.3 GHz CPU

    • SanDisk SDIN8DE4 32 GB NAND flash memory

    • STMicroelectronics 0100 AA 9058401 MYS

    • Qualcomm PM8941 and PM8841 power management ICs

    • Avago ACPM-7600 power amplifier module

    • Synaptics S3528A touchscreen controller

    • Qualcomm WTR1625L RF transceiver and WTR1625 (modem?)

  9. HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 10, image 1 of 1
    • A close up of the RF front end, highlighting the Qualcomm ET subsystem. That's "Envelope Tracking", not "ExtraTerrestrial".

    • Inside the red line is the Qualcomm QFE1100 ET IC, plus all the associated passives, weighing in at around 50mm2 for the whole footprint.

    • The QFE1100 ETIC itself

  10. HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 11, image 1 of 2 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 11, image 2 of 2
    • With the motherboard free, we turn our attention to the battery.

    • You heard right: you have to remove the motherboard to get to the battery, again, which is more than lightly adhered to the LCD shield.

    • This super-sized serving of adhesive is sure to be a health risk for the M8's repairability score. Too bad HTC doesn't take a recipe from Google's book.

    • HTC touted the all-new One's exceptional battery management, with up to 2 weeks of standby from a 100% charge, and 15 hours on 5%. Wowsers.

    • Much of this comes from low-power sensors and clever software, plus a 2600 mAh battery, up 300 mAh from last year.

  11. HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 12, image 1 of 3 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 12, image 2 of 3 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 12, image 3 of 3
    • Time for a couple bite-sized goodies from the One:

    • The rotary vibrator motor lies in this square rubber case.

    • The earpiece speaker is backed by a plastic amplifying chamber, providing the required oomph for this half of the highly touted "BoomSound" stereo speakers.

    • With the speaker chamber removed, we're cleared for take-off to get this daughterboard off the ground case.

  12. HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 13, image 1 of 2 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 13, image 2 of 2
    • Or at least we thought we were, until we found the glue holding the board in place.

    • Our will spudger is strong, but our spudgering arm is getting mighty tired.

    • With the daughterboard free, it's time to gather 'round for a peek at the fancy camera tech.

  13. HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 14, image 1 of 3 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 14, image 2 of 3 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 14, image 3 of 3
    • Chipworks found last year's "UltraPixel" cam to be a 4-megapixel affair. This revision likely has the same pixel count, but with larger pixels.

    • Much more interesting is the addition of this secondary rear camera, which in concert with the first enables all sorts of fancy image data manipulation, retroactive focusing, and special effects.

    • Not to be outdone, the intrepid selfie-cam gets a huge spec bump, leaping from last season's 2.1 megapixels to a whopping 5.0 MP (more than selfiesufficient).

  14. HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 15, image 1 of 2 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 15, image 2 of 2
    • Keeping each other company on the now-sparsely-populated daughterboard are a couple of remaining chips:

    • NXP 44701 NFC controller

    • Bosch Sensortec BMP280 pressure sensor

    • Qualcomm QFE1550 dynamic antenna matching tuner

  15. HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 16, image 1 of 3 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 16, image 2 of 3 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 16, image 3 of 3
    • A tap of our tweezers and we step into speakeasy speaker action.

    • Dr. Dre fans, beat your chests in sorrow: HTC's partnership with Beats Audio has ended. Despite this, early reviews confirm the speakers are quite good... for a phone.

    • These HTC BoomSound speakers give some good vibrations, rated up to 95dB, or just shy of a pneumatic drill.

  16. HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 17, image 1 of 2 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 17, image 2 of 2
    • Last to leave the party is the 3.5 mm audio jack, now sharing a small cable assembly with the microphone and micro-USB port on the bottom of the phone.

    • We give it a gentle nudge out the door with the spudger. The end is in sight...

  17. HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 18, image 1 of 3 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 18, image 2 of 3 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 18, image 3 of 3
    • With the front panel mostly stripped down, we finally get to display removal.

    • "Finally" because we've gotten accustomed to Apple's display-out-first iPhone assembly—which greatly simplifies display repairs—so we’re not sure why some manufacturers insist on burying both the screen and the battery. At least make one easy to replace!

    • Liberal heat around the edges of the glass and we're able to easily slide an opening pick around the perimeter, separating the adhesive.

    • ...A little too easily, in fact, as we discovered the exact wrong place to slice and dice, severing the digitizer cable.

    • Feel free to thank us for our noble sacrifice, breaking our phone so you don't have to.

  18. HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 19, image 1 of 3 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 19, image 2 of 3 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 19, image 3 of 3
    • What a trial, to remove and replace the screen. Luckily HTC acknowledges the difficulty and provides one free screen replacement on your new M8 (in the first six months). Don't break it after that.

    • With all of the quality control stamps and signatures on the back of the 1080p display, we're reminded of a certain Macintosh we recently tore down.

    • To make a thin phone (9.4 mm), you need thin components. The fused LCD and digitizer measures little more than 2 mm.

    • Down to a bare midframe, it's time for the teardown team to high-five, have a beer, and mull over the storm of a repairability score to come.

    • Spoiler alert: it's going to look a lot like this One.

  19. HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 20, image 1 of 2 HTC One (M8) Teardown: step 20, image 2 of 2
    • HTC One M8 Repairability Score: 2 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair)

    • It's very difficult—although no longer impossible—to open the device without damaging the rear case. This makes every component extremely difficult to replace.

    • The battery is buried beneath the motherboard and adhered to the midframe, hindering its replacement.

    • The display assembly cannot be replaced without tunneling through the entire phone. This makes one of most common repairs, a damaged screen, very difficult to accomplish.

    • Copious amounts of tape, adhesive, and copper shielding make many components difficult to remove and replace.

    • Solid external construction improves durability.

54 Comments

Do you know the model of the 802.11ac chip?

Timothy Cappalli - Reply

It is Qualcomm's WCN3680, located in bottom-left corner of the board near the two Camera Flash LEDs.

Also the dual RFIC (WTR1625L + WTR1625) is to support concurrent use of multiple RF bands, which can be for either SV-LTE (for VZW) or for LTE-CA.

Michael Goldsmith -

Stainless steel deep drawn and pressed on plastic body.

Jan Rueter - Reply

Were you able to identify the motion sensors, particularly, the accelerator and the gyro? And the manufacturer. Thanks

tom - Reply

Can you please identify the motion sensors - the accelerator and the gyro and their manufacturers? Thanks

tom - Reply

Add Comment

View Statistics:

Past 24 Hours: 0

Past 7 Days: 9

Past 30 Days: 93

All Time: 445,631