The Apple Watch Ultra has hit the market and we’ve already seen it smashed with a hammer.
But for a far gentler approach to this gadget’s innards, we suggest checking out the first teardown of the Ultra at the hands of repair specialists iFixit.
Be warned, however: Watching this thing get opened isn’t a lot less painful than watching it smashed. Despite having four exposed screws on the back and tons more screws inside, the Apple Watch Ultra appears to be quite hard to open.
So hard, in fact, that iFixit’s expert broke the device’s display while trying to separate it from the case. Word of advice: If you need to repair the Ultra, leave it to the experts. Even if you just want to change the battery, you’ll first have to remove the display and a bunch of other components, which, again, may easily result in some sort of damage to the watch.
The teardown also gives us our first look at the Ultra’s battery. Compared to the regular Apple Watch Series 8, the Apple Watch Ultra boasts double the battery life (36 hours vs. 18 hours), and it’s not surprising given the Ultra’s battery has nearly twice the capacity of the Series 8’s battery (2.1 Wh vs. 1.19 Wh).
The speakers on the Ultra have been similarly enlarged compared to those on the Apple Watch Series 8, which should make it easier to make a phone call in noisy environments. The larger speakers also enable the Ultra’s Siren, which blares an increasingly loud sound through the speakers (86 decibels, says Apple) to attract attention if you get lost in the wilderness.
Overall, the Ultra seems a tad more repairable than Apple’s previous watches, but it’s definitely not a gadget you should try to repair on your own, unless you’re an expert.
