iPad (2017) Teardown Reveals the Tablet Is Very Similar to iPad Air: iFixit

Apple announced the new 9.7-inch iPad (2017) earlier this month without much fuss and in the initial impressions the device came across as a spiritual successor to the iPad Air. Now, iFixit's teardown of the device has revealed that the initial impressions were quite on target as the device not only look looks similar to the iPad Air but even the internals are similar with very few slight differences.

Even though the new Apple iPad (2017) received a poor repairability score, as is the case with many Apple devices, the most notable thing about the teardown is the similarity of the device with iPad Air first generation. First coming to the differences pointed out between iPad Air and the new iPad: the new iPad lacks the physical lock switch, the microphone holes have shrunk, and there is a single row of speaker holes.

The most significant change that has been made from iPad Air to the iPad (2017) is the addition of Touch ID for fingerprint reading.

iFixit has further questioned Apple's claim where the company said that the new iPad comes with a - brighter 9.7-inch Retina display. "Our question is: brighter than what? It doesn't look that different from the Air 1's display. If they mean brighter than the Air 2, then that may simply be due to reverting to the unfused display design of the Air 1," iFixit said in its note. "Front and centre on the display PCB, we find a Parade DP655 - the same LCD timing controller found on the Air 1 display," iFixit said in a note on its website.

Both iPad Air and the iPad (2017) house the same 32.9 Whr battery and the insides of both the tablets are "pretty identical," iFixit said.