Last week, in a comparative article of the “new” 9.7-inch iPad with the iPad Air 2 and 9.7-inch iPad Pro, we kind of concluded that it was more like an updated first-generation iPad Air than actually a successor to the iPad Air 2.
Today, in another of its traditional teardowns, a iFixit confirmed this.
Internally, the 9.7-inch iPad (or fifth-generation iPad, as Apple calls it in its A1822 model documentation) is very, very similar to the original iPad Air.
As we already know, there are obviously some significant technical differences: the new features a 64-bit A9 chip, 2GB of RAM, Touch ID sensor (with conventional physical button) and a brighter screen, although not as thin / laminated as the Pros.
The new Wi-Fi module, specifically, is slightly larger than the old one; the 32.9Wh battery.
IFixit rated it 2/10 in terms of “repairability”, for this iPad.
Check the complete disassembly here.
