Internally, Apple Watch Series 5 is practically the same as Series 4

That the Apple Watch Series 5 it does not present dramatic changes in relation to the (discontinued) Series 4, it is no longer a novelty. As we have already detailed, the new gadget Apple wearable offers some extra features when compared to the previous generation, such as always-on screen and compass. However, how different are the two models? As you can tell from the title, not much.

Of course, to compare the two Apple Watches, we would have to know the new model from the inside – and who better at it than iFixit? The repair firm recently released the dismantling of the gadget recently released, revealing few (but one-off) differences from the Apple Watch Series 4.

Display

Apple Watch Series 5 vs. Display  Series 4

IFixit said it hoped to notice some novelty in the watch’s hardware that would bring the always-on screen feature to life. However, the company found that the most significant changes were implemented in the manufacture of the display itself, invisible to the human eye.

Compass

Apple Watch Series 5 screen

The enhanced (or completely new) ambient light sensor, captured on the iFixit X-ray, remains embedded in the watch’s OLED display. In addition, the new compass uses a very small gyroscope and, according to the firm, a very fast code to compensate for the interference of the magnets inside the Apple Watch.

Drums

Apple Watch Series 5 battery vs.  Series 4

If the Apple Watch Series 5 battery was previously believed to be exactly the same as its predecessor, now it is no longer possible to support this claim. The new watch does have a bigger battery – more precisely 1.4% bigger on 44mm models. Therefore, the always-on display probably owes its existence to improvements in the power consumption efficiency of the watch than to the battery itself.

Processor

Disassemble the Apple Watch Series 5

Although the performance of the new Apple Watch is similar to that of the previous model, the fact is that the Series 5 uses the new S5 chip, which holds twice as much storage as the Series 4 (32GB of space versus 16GB) and the new compass. However, the chip did not undergo any change in its size or position.

Materials

IFixit also analyzed Apple’s claim that the Watch Series 5 case is made of “100% recycled” aluminum and found the obvious: most of the aluminum used in the technology industry is recycled, not least because it is much more cheap as well as the newly manufactured. The question is whether Apple recycles materials that would not have been reused at all, and the answer is no.

Even though it is following the flow of most manufacturers, it is likely that Apple is working on even more recycling options (such as lithium batteries or cobalt) to, in fact, innovate in this sector – but this is still not the case. aluminum case used in the Apple Watch Series 5.

“Reparability”

Like the previous generation, the Apple Watch Series 5 achieved 6 points in iFixit’s “repairability” index (10 being the easiest to repair), ie: new features, but the same “repairability” as always.