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What you need

This teardown is not a repair guide. To repair your Smart Keyboard, use our service manual.

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    • Check out these smart specs!

    • Smart Connector for power and data connection

    • 64 Key, QWERTY keyboard

    • Water and stain-resistant

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    • The bottom flap is home to all the regular suspects—regulatory markings, country of origin, and a new model number: A1636.

    • Hamburger? Hot Dog? With all these folds, the Smart Keyboard definitely breaks the record for the most confusing combination keyboard/case ever.

    • Seriously, this thing has so many sections, Apple even included a handy "guide" on how to fold it correctly.

    • We finally get the Smart Keyboard to bend to our will and lay mostly flat (not taking into account the 4 mm depth of each individual key). It looks like the perfect symmetry we found in the iPad Pro doesn't carry over to its accessories.

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    • On the left, an iPad Pro with the Smart Keyboard. On the right, a Surface Pro 4. We're pretty sure anyway, the differences are pretty slight at first glance.

    • The most marked difference between the key layouts is of course the Surface's trackpad. iPads just want to watch the world burn...

    • We know, iOS doesn't support any mouse-type input, so a trackpad here wouldn't really work. Still, with the rapidly growing number of iPad applications, we are hopeful...

    • The Smart Keyboard features some iOS hallmarks, like the keyboard swapping globe button, and rounder key edges.

    • However the iPad Pro also seems to be taking some notes from its notebook cousins, the Smart Keyboard has control, option, and command keys.

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    Tool used on this step:
    Precision Utility Knife
    $4.99
    Buy
    • In order to make the Smart Keyboard water and stain-resistant, Apple encapsulated the entire accessory inside some high tech fabric.

    • Finding no viable entry points, we turn to our Tech Knife for sage wisdom.

    • We slice and dice the microfiber lining of the keyboard as we burrow our way towards victory.

    • At this point, it's readily apparent that this teardown is an irreversible process.

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    • We peel up the top layer of mysterious fabric (we think it's nylon—our teardown engineer notes that it feels like a windbreaker) to find blank keys.

    • Perhaps Jony Ive was worried about your keyboard getting get too cold?

    • Moving past the fabric, we begin prying out the individual keys and get our first glance at the dome switches underneath.

    • As Apple stated during their keynote, these switches are the same as those found in the 2015 Retina MacBook.

    • One design choice we like is the placement of a stiffening weight in the spacebar.

    • The addition of this bar means the spacebar key can register a push no matter where you tap on it. No wobbly spacebar woes here.

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    Tool used on this step:
    Pro Tech Toolkit
    $74.95
    Buy
    • We call upon our iOpener to heat the microfiber lining, allowing us to delve further into the multiple layers of the Smart Keyboard cover panel.

    • We're starting to feel like archeologists, digging through the ages...

    • Underneath the soft display cover we find... nothing really.

    • Time for a brief message from our sponsors: We're excited to announce that we've just released a completely redesigned Pro Tech Toolkit, complete with all of the tools you need, and none that you don't.

    • With this tough plastic layer blocking further keyboard inroads, we're going to need one of those tools...

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    • Like a plastic opening pick.

    • We crack open the clam and the pearls keycaps come cascading out.

    • We now have the pleasure of viewing the entire underlying circuit board, replete with 64 dome switches.

    • But not much else, no LEDs, or batteries or fancy fans needed here!

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    • Another one bites the dust. We pull the keycap frame away for a closer look.

    • There are some interesting intestinal squiggles in this plastic frame, what's up with that?

    • Closer inspection shows these channels lead to tiny vents at the top of the keyboard.

    • We assume this keeps the Smart Keyboard from becoming a pressurized balloon every time a key is depressed.

    • Let's hope these holes don't let water in...

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    • Time to peel up yet another layer! In fact, it's that tough plastic backing we encountered earlier. It's aggressively glued, so we aggressively, well, ripped in in half...

    • Finally, the true keyboard is revealed—a plane of switches and chips!

    • The brains of the operation is Apple's latest go-to microcontroller for peripheral input devices:

    • ST Microelectronics STM32F103VB 72 MHz 32-bit RISC ARM Cortex-M3

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    • Peeling up the last of the Smart Keyboard's pelt reveals three interesting fabric strips.

    • Turns out, these are made of Apple's mysterious "conductive fabric." These connect the keyboard to the Smart Connector and allow for a "two‑way flow of power and data."

    • We're excited about this design feature, as these fabric strips should be more durable and fail-resistant than wires or traditional flex cables.

    • Apple even states "unlike traditional wires, the conductive fabric can withstand a lifetime of folding." Sweet!

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    • The Apple Smart Keyboard repairability 0 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair):

    • While durable, the keyboard is impossible to open without damaging, meaning no internal components can be replaced without destroying the device.

Dante Mazzanti

Member since: 07/13/15

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