Dissect the "plateau" design of the new iPhone and the clues of the "replaceable battery"

Apple and Android

Reach the same goal by different routes

When releasing the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air, Apple mentioned a term - Plateau, which originally means "plateau" and is officially named "Extended Platform" in China. It describes the long, strip - shaped protrusion on the back of these two iPhones.

This is not just a simple design change for the sake of appearance; behind it is a profound adjustment of the internal structure of the iPhone.

Therefore, although disassembling the iPhone is an annual ritual, its significance this year is extraordinary. Previous leaks have been very direct: The foldable iPhone next year, and even the 20th - anniversary iPhone the year after, will start from this year's new models, especially the iPhone Air, which serves as an "experimental field".

By disassembling the iPhone Air, we can see Apple's design thinking for the future; on the iPhone 17 Pro, we can also see the engineering implementation ideas for subsequent iPhones.

iPhone Air: The Art of Slimness

How was the thinnest iPhone in history made? Apart from the inevitable compromises in configuration, Apple also put a lot of effort into the structure of the iPhone Air.

The biggest challenge for a slim phone is how to fit a battery as large as possible into the limited body space. This is also the reason why the iPhone Air uses the "Plateau" design: to compress the motherboard area as much as possible and make more space for the battery.

In the CT scan of the iPhone Air by iFixit, it can be found that nearly 60% of the phone's space is occupied by the battery:

Consumer electronics technology is advancing, and so is battery technology, but it seems to be progressing a bit slower. Therefore, battery life and user experience are still constrained by battery capacity - this statement was made ten years ago and is still very true today.

Image source: iFixit

That is to say, the iPhone Air has completely changed the traditional "vertical motherboard" design that Apple has adhered to since the iPhone 4. It not only adopts the horizontally - arranged motherboard, which has been the mainstream idea in the Android camp in recent years, but also implements the three - section arrangement design of "motherboard, battery, and motor/microphone" from top to bottom, which is commonly seen in Android phones.

Incidentally, another ultra - thin flagship this year, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, also uses a similar arrangement scheme inside the phone.

Image source: iFixit

The iPhone Air still uses the design of an openable back panel. After removing the back panel, we can more intuitively see this huge battery, with a rated capacity of 3149mAh and 12.26Wh. The irregular shape design makes full use of every available space.

Image source: iFixit

Interestingly, the internal battery of the iPhone Air is exactly the same in shape and specifications as the MagSafe external battery that Apple launched for this model -

This makes ifanr associate with the new regulation recently introduced by the EU, which is expected to be officially enforced in 2027: by then, all mobile phones sold in the EU market must be equipped with user - replaceable batteries.

Who can say for sure whether Apple's design for this battery is a preparation for such a future?

Image source: iFixit

Back to the disassembly of the iPhone Air: Apple used the voltage - sensitive glue that has received high praise in the industry. As long as a special tool is used to apply electricity to the battery connection, the battery can be removed relatively easily. For a phone with a small battery that needs to be charged frequently, resulting in faster battery wear, this technology is even more valuable.

iFixit also gave a very high evaluation of the disassembly difficulty of the main components such as the battery, which is far different from Apple's products years ago.

Fitting a large number of components into a 5.6 - millimeter - thick body is truly a challenging task. Apple adopted customized solutions for many components. For example, the USB - C interface module uses titanium alloy 3D printing technology, which is not only thinner and lighter but also claims to have higher strength and uses less raw materials.

The same goes for the "Plateau" part. The large camera module on the left uses a polygonal design, the speaker on the right perfectly fits the rounded edge of the "Plateau", and the components below are mostly in the shape of an "L" or a "convex", like a closely - arranged jigsaw puzzle.

Image source: WekiHome

The motherboard of the iPhone Air uses a double - sided stacked design, but the actual stacked part is only a small protruding area, and most of the area is a single - layer design.

Image source: iFixit

After opening the double - layer motherboard, we can not only see the new self - developed C1X baseband and the N1 wireless chip from Apple, but also find that components like the power management module are packaged into small particles. The disadvantage of this is that the entire component needs to be replaced during maintenance, but the advantage is that the occupied area of the components is significantly reduced.

Image source: iFixit

The discussion about the body of the iPhone Air naturally focuses on its title of "the thinnest iPhone in history". Can the strength of the titanium alloy frame prevent it from repeating the "bendgate" incident of the iPhone 6?

The famous "destructive blogger" JerryRigEverything conducted a real - life test. He found that he couldn't break the iPhone Air by holding it tightly with both hands, indicating that it has good practicality in daily use. Under more severe pressure from a crane, the iPhone Air made a cracking sound when it was subjected to a weight of 171 pounds (about 77.56 kilograms), and the screen completely cracked at 215 pounds (about 97.52 kilograms).

Interestingly, since the motherboard of the iPhone Air is concentrated in the upper part of the body, it won't be greatly affected when the middle part is bent. As long as the battery is not punctured and the internal wiring is still connected, the phone can still work normally... The claim of "the most durable iPhone in history" is not an exaggeration from Apple, as long as you don't mention the battery capacity.

Image source: JerryRigEverything

After disassembling the iPhone Air, we can more intuitively feel Apple's engineering exploration: a new body space arrangement scheme, a large number of customized components, without losing the elegance of Apple's internal circuits.

This is in line with ifanr's initial positioning of this phone - a model mainly for "experimental" purposes, paving the technological way for the future thinness and foldability of the iPhone.

More importantly, compared with last year's "ultra - thin" iPad Pro, which used a large amount of one - time glue, the components of the iPhone Air still adhere to the more space - consuming modular design, ensuring the phone's repairability. iFixit also gave it a high score of 7.

Image source: iFixit

iPhone 17 Pro: Better Inside than Outside

The iPhone 17 Pro, which uses the one - piece molding process for the first time, has excellent feel and appearance - until users found that there were already many scratches on the back of their brand - new phones.

This problem mainly lies in the protruding edge of the camera module of the iPhone 17 Pro. Due to its sharpness and lack of a smooth transition, once the phone is scratched by keys, coins, etc. in the pocket, the anodized coating on the edge of the back "Plateau" is easily scratched off, revealing the original color of the aluminum alloy.

Anodizing is an industrial coloring process and cannot be repaired after - sales.

Image source: JerryRigEverything

On other flat parts of the body, scratches are not as obvious as those on the edge of the camera module, but they still exist.

The culprit is probably the overly sharp edge of the camera module, which makes the anodized coating unable to fit well on the corners and thus more vulnerable. Moreover, the industry speculates that Apple may have chosen a thinner anodizing process to prevent the actual thickness of the phone from getting out of control (since a VC vapor chamber has been built - in, increasing the thickness), but the cost is that the coloring layer is more easily worn.

Although scratching and peeling are common problems with the anodizing process, there are more wear - resistant and thicker processes in the industry. Besides the thickness factor, cost may also be a consideration for Apple not to choose them.

Image source: JerryRigEverything

To avoid scratching and wear, users can only use a protective case. However, some users have complained online that if the angle is wrong or there is dust when putting on the case, it may also cause scratches...

Compared with this good - looking but not very practical body shell, the internal structure of the iPhone 17 Pro series is a new design centered around the user experience.

Similar to the iPhone Air, the iPhone 17 Pro (Max) also uses the "three - section arrangement". The motherboard is mainly concentrated in the larger "Plateau" area above, which is jokingly called by netizens as a "typical Android structure".