iPad deconstructed

Luke Soules, co-founder of iFixit.com , is the first to walk out of the Apple store in Richmond, Virginia, with a pre-ordered iPad Photograph: Molly Riley/Reuters Photograph: Molly Riley/guardian.co.uk Soules's boxed iPad. Contents: iPad, dock, connector to USB cable, 10W USB power adaptor, documentation Photograph: ifixit.com Photograph: guardian.co.uk The iPad and a first-generation iPod. The iPad measures 242.8mm x 189.7mm x 13.4mm, and weighs 1.5lbs (0.68kg) Photograph: ifixit.com Photograph: guardian.co.uk Insert a metal spudger between the display and the rear case to pry the iPad open. It has arsenic-free display glass, a mercury-free LCD display and a recyclable aluminum and glass enclosure Photograph: ifixit.com Photograph: guardian.co.uk Lift the display assembly away from the rear case. Inside, two huge Li-ion batteries take up most of the space Photograph: ifixit.com Photograph: guardian.co.uk The display comes away without the use of a heat gun, but some tabs may be broken in the process Photograph: ifixit.com Photograph: guardian.co.uk The display assembly and rear case assembly are each 350g. The empty void in the upper right corner is where the cellular communications board will go in the 3G iPad Photograph: ifixit.com Photograph: guardian.co.uk The display has a marking referencing Honeywell patent #5280371 Photograph: ifixit.com Photograph: guardian.co.uk The 3.75V, 24.8-watt-hour battery powers an advertised 10 hours of use. By contrast, the iPhone 3GS has a 4.51-watt-hour battery, and the MacBook Air a 40-watt-hour battery. The USB power supply had to be enhanced specifically for the iPad Photograph: ifixit.com Photograph: guardian.co.uk Disconnecting the display data cable Photograph: ifixit.com Photograph: guardian.co.uk Disconnecting the volume, power, and screen rotation lock buttons connector Photograph: ifixit.com Photograph: guardian.co.uk The main board is secured to the back panel by T3 Torx screws. We have never seen Apple use screws with a bit this small before Photograph: ifixit.com Photograph: guardian.co.uk Top and bottom of the logic board with the EMI shield on. It looks like this board was made by AT&S. We haven't seen Apple's PCB manufacturers brand their boards before Photograph: ifixit.com Photograph: guardian.co.uk A shot of the logic board minus the steel EMI shield The manufacturer of the memory has switched from Toshiba on the FCC teardown to Samsung on this device 64Gbit MLC NAND flash We love how much easier Samsung's chip numbers are to interpret Broadcom BCM5973 The Apple A4 is marked up much nicer than the part in the FCC photos from Friday # Texas Instruments CD3240A1 Photograph: ifixit.com Photograph: guardian.co.uk The ambient light sensor lives in a compartment that a camera would love to call home Photograph: ifixit.com Photograph: guardian.co.uk The display seems to be glued around its perimeter but can still be removed from the plastic framework Photograph: ifixit.com Photograph: guardian.co.uk The display assembly weighs 153g for the LCD and 193g for the front glass, which seem quite thick (~1.18mm) – not a huge surprise considering the size of the iPad. Compare that to about 1.02mm for the iPhone Photograph: ifixit.com Photograph: guardian.co.uk