Apple's latest flagship has just gone under the knife, and what iFixit found inside is a fascinating mix of engineering brilliance and design compromises. The teardown video, nearly 11 minutes long, starts with two Torx screws at the bottom and quickly gets interesting. A new cooling system. A camera plateau that scratches too easily. Plenty to chew on.
What's inside: Apple's boldest thermal redesign yet
The star of this teardown is undoubtedly Apple's new vapor chamber cooling system, a lattice sandwich structure that disperses heat from both the A19 Pro chip and the battery. It is Apple's first serious swing at advanced thermal management on an iPhone, finally matching what high-end Android phones have treated as table stakes.
The vapor chamber sits right on top of the A19 Pro chipset to siphon off heat during gaming, video editing, or long camera sessions. The physics is elegant and old-school: heat from the chip is directed to the vapor chamber, which then spreads it throughout the unibody aluminum frame. The water next to the A19 Pro chip boils and turns to steam, it condenses on the other side, then returns through the lattice. That loop keeps performance high longer and cuts the throttling that dogged earlier models.
The new vapor chamber is quite sizable, even if it may not match the Galaxy S25 series. For gamers and creators who push their phones hard, it is a real leap for iPhone thermals.
The scratchgate mystery: solved with science
Now for the elephant in the room, the scuffs around the camera plateau. Reviewers are already calling it "scratchgate", and the name sticks the moment you see how easily that surface marks up.
iFixit's microscopic analysis points to the finish itself. Apple used a layered anodization process, and instead of aluminum directly underneath, there is another anodized layer that promotes spalling and scratching. A structural weak point, right where you do not want one.
The issue is not the aluminum choice, we know the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max have switched to aluminum rather than titanium this year. The culprit is the anodization geometry and adhesion. With a scratcher that's equivalent to a copper penny, iFixit could peel the coating at the edges of the camera bump.
Crucially, it's at these spots that the extra layer is most brittle, and less tightly bonded to the metal. Flat areas fare fine. The sharp transitions around the camera plateau concentrate stress, and the coating chips away instead of taking a light scratch, a phenomenon materials scientists call "spalling."
If you set your phone on a table, or toss it in a bag with keys and coins, expect the camera area to show wear first.
Repairability: a mixed bag of improvements and setbacks
The iPhone 17 Pro gained a provisional repairability score of 7 out of 10, roughly on par with the iPhone Air. That number hides some big swings.
On the plus side, battery serviceability is legitimately better. Apple has added extra screws to the battery plate system, and removal uses a 12V current to dissolve adhesive instead of old pull-tabs. The battery tray is attached with screws and makes battery replacement easier, the battery is encased in metal for safety. Expect simpler, cheaper battery swaps.
There is a catch. The two-way repair system has been scrapped in the iPhone 17 Pro, so everything routes through the display now. That means replacing the battery, a camera module, or the USB-C port requires removing the iPhone's display, while the back glass or wireless charging assembly still open from the rear.
More display removals, more risk, more time on the bench.
The complexity challenge: screws, screws everywhere
DIYers, brace yourselves. Disassembling the USB Type-C port alone required removing 22 screws of varying types, which iFixit called tedious. It screams space efficiency and component security over repair simplicity.
The screw buffet does not help either. Apple used a variety of screws in this phone, including tri-point, Phillips, standoffs, Pentalobe screws, and Torx Plus, the latter being a first for any iPhone. Shops will need more bits, and a little more patience.
The logic board is located in the upper half of the phone beneath the enlarged camera plateau, and the iPhone 17 Pro introduces a unibody design with only a small rear glass panel. That architecture enables the vapor chamber integration, but it also creates repair bottlenecks that will nudge more owners toward professional service.
What this means for iPhone users
Bottom line, the iPhone 17 Pro is Apple's most significant internal rethink in years, and the thermal gains are real. The vapor chamber spreads heat from the processor into the phone's frame, helping prevent throttling. If you game, edit, or run heavy pro apps, you will feel it.
The flip side is durability around the camera plateau. With the anodized layer flaking more easily at the edges, a case that covers the camera perimeter becomes less accessory, more necessity.
On service, Apple continues to consider repair in its design, but losing dual-entry access raises costs and complexity for common fixes beyond the battery. Third-party shops may find the mix of screws and display-first access a headache.
PRO TIP: Given the scratchgate vulnerability and increased repair complexity, AppleCare+ becomes a more compelling investment for the iPhone 17 Pro than for previous models. The combination of coating durability issues and complex internal architecture makes professional service coverage particularly valuable.
The engineering inside the iPhone 17 Pro shows Apple pushing smartphone thermal design to new levels, even if it comes with trade-offs in surface durability and repair accessibility. Power users who prize sustained performance will welcome the changes. Everyone else should plan for protection and think ahead about service.
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