A teardown by YouTuber Hugh Jeffreys of Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air shows just how much the company has changed its repair approach in recent years.
The iPhone 12 was the first to draw attention for rejecting replacement parts reminds Jeffreys, and Apple has since added an online calibration tool to make some official swaps possible. Last year, identical iPhones could share parts, and even third-party batteries once again displayed health data. Still, many third-party and even some used Apple parts trigger errors, limiting true repair freedom.
The iPhone 17 Pro and Air look very different inside. The Pro includes Apple’s new vapor chamber cooling system, held down by 13 Torx screws and covered in graphite. Its battery is rated at 15.53 Wh, compared to the Air’s 12.26 Wh, though the Air’s battery is surprisingly close in capacity despite being only 3 mm thick versus 5.3 mm in the Pro. Jeffreys also confirms the iPhone Air’s battery is the same one used in the phone’s MagSafe battery pack accessory.
Both models run the A19 Pro chip with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage in this teardown.
The Air is Apple’s thinnest phone yet at 5.6 mm, and to get there Apple removed the SIM tray worldwide, reduced the USB-C port hardware, and cut the bottom speaker. The earpiece now does double duty. That thinness comes with risk: a fragile 0.1 mm Taptic Engine cable snapped during disassembly, showing how easy it is to damage.
Repairability is mixed, says Jeffreys. Both phones allow the display and back glass to be replaced independently, avoiding risks to the expensive OLED panel. The Pro uses multiple screw types — pentalobe, tri-wing, Torx, Phillips, and standoff — while the Air is simpler but more delicate.
Parts pairing warnings remain in iOS, meaning Apple still decides which repairs are “approved.” Overall, the Pro gains cooling upgrades, larger cameras, and a screw-in battery bracket, while the Air pushes thinness to the extreme with a surprisingly decent battery. Both survive the teardown, but Apple’s tight control over replacement parts remains unchanged, says Jeffreys.
Check out his iPhone 17 and iPhone Air teardown below:
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