The team over at iFixit have gone ahead and torn down the sixth-generation iPad from Apple meant for students and education market. Apart from upgraded internals, the new iPad is notable for its support for Apple Pencil which has so far only been available on Pro iPad models.

The teardown reveals that the new iPad is a lot like the old one. While the core components are new, Apple has largely used the same components. This includes even the battery which is a 32.9Wh one — same as the one found on the iPad 5.

Sadly, this also means that this new iPad is as difficult to get into as its predecessor. On the positive side, the display is not fused to the front glass which makes replacing it a fairly cheaper process. However, due to the sticky foam tape that keeps the LCD panel glued to the body, there is a very high probability that you will just end up damaging the panel while disassembling your iPad if you are not careful.

There is a new touchscreen controller from Broadcom on the iPad 6 which helps in adding Apple Pencil support on the tablet.

The battery and other components are also glued to their place through the heavy use of adhesive which makes the disassembly process difficult and complex.

Overall, the new iPad gets a repairability score of 2 out of 10 which means that it is very difficult to repair. While the lack of a glued display and glass at the front makes LCD replacement easy, getting inside the tablet in itself is a difficult job.

If you are student planning on getting the iPad 6, you should just end up getting Apple Care+ for it as you likely won’t be able to properly carry an in-house repair on it without the proper tools and experience.

Source: iFixit