iPad Pro: 4-speaker system takes up a huge amount of potential battery space
A teardown of the new iPad Pro reveals that the new 4-speaker system takes up a huge amount of space inside the device.
According to a teardown carried out by repair specialists at iFixit, the speaker enclosures take up about half as much space as the battery does. And the battery in the iPad isn't small either, featuring a power capacity of 38.8Wh, which is 40 percent bigger than the one found inside the iPad Air 2, and a shade bigger than the 38.2Wh unit Microsoft uses in the Surface Pro 4.
But the speaker units - which consist of the speakers themselves and the volume chambers - take up about half the space that the batteries do. In other words, if Apple had put small speakers into the iPad Pro, it could have made the battery almost 50 percent bigger.
The speakers are themselves quite special. There are four in total, and the system is self-balancing, which is a fancy way of saying that no matter how you hold the iPad Pro, the sound feel natural. Each speaker also features its own volume chamber carved directly into the unibody aluminum shell.
On the repair front the iPad Pro isn't really much more repairable than a regular iPad despite its size. While the battery isn't soldered to the device and features pull tabs for easy removal, Apple has still used copious amounts of adhesive to hold components in place, and the display is a fused panel, which means that in the event of damage, it will need to be replaced in its entirety.
So don't drop your new iPad Pro!
See also:
iPad Pro, in pictures