Things I learned from the 15PM teardown video
1. The adhesive for both front screen & back glass is very gooey/sticky. This basically makes a mess when opening the phones. Black gooey stuff all over the frame & very visible on the natural titanium model.
Not sure if it's just the 2 phones I have or the technique I used to open them. Or it's like this by design.
2. In order to remove the logic board from the housing, you MUST open the back glass first & remove the screw & plate that is holding down the wireless charging/rear flash flex.
So expect to see lots of torn wireless charging/rear flash flex torn. I already see a ton of 12-14 series with torn "5G Flex" that are torn, due to technician not aware there's a soldered flex on the board.
Although, maybe there's a way to lift the board carefully enough out, so you can reach the screw/plate from the front side.
3. The 15PM ALSO has a 5G flex soldered to the board. So those will be ripped, for the above reasons.
4. The overall insides were very similar to the 14PM model. So if you've worked on a 14PM, then 15PM won't be much different.
5. In the US, we have eSIM models only. But where is there room for the international model's SIM Slot? On the 14 series, there was just an empty spot where the sim slot would be located. I couldn't find any spot where an international model would have a physical SIM Slot located at.
So that means, either the international model also is eSIM only OR international model has a totally different internal design (unlikely).
6. The confirmed parts to create a "unknown part" notification have not changed. Battery, Display, Rear Cameras. And of course, Face ID/TrueDepth Camera is still paired.
7. Battery Cycle count is now in the settings > general > about > bottom of the page. It then says "unknown" when you replace the battery.
8. iPhone 15PM does NOT support "Fast Charging" via USB C. It was only charging at 5V/1.13A (5W), when on the same charger, my S22 Ultra was at 9V/3A (27W). Maybe it's due to the battery was around 80%.
I will do more testing to confirm later.
9. iPhone 15PM USB C to another iPhone 15PM USB C does charge the other phone. But it does NOT allow any data transfer.
10. iPhone 15PM USB C to my S22 Ultra, would detect on both phones, that data wanted to transfer, as we got pop ups on both asking access to data. But ultimately, I found no way to access data from either phone.
11. Action button flex is still attached to the volume flex and power button flex. It is also not paired.
12. iPhone 15PM will restart every 3 minutes when the back glass/wireless flex is unplugged. The panic log showed 0x400000. Same as iPhone 14/14P.
13. USB C accessories seem to work. I tried a USB flash drive, USB mouse and USB keyboard.
14. USB C Data Transfer speeds seem slow. Took a "long time" to transfer a 435MB file from iPhone to PC. Unfortunately, the PC didn't show the actual transfer speeds.
I'm sure there are more. But just what I can remember from the livestream.
What did you learn or find the most interesting?
If you have a Seek Thermal Cam, you're missing out if you don't have a VCC Seek Stand: https://www.vccboardrepairs.com/buy-seek-stand
Injured Gadgets just got these back in stock, so get them while you can!
It can take us a while to build these out sometimes, so they're sometimes out of stock for a while, but we're working towards always having inventory ready to build more as they sell out.
This stand makes using a thermal cam so easy. So much better than any other thermal solution on the market.
It allows you to get real close up (using my Macro Lens), and easily find where the short is coming from.
Plus it's hard free, so you can have your hands free to try to boot the device from DCPS, while having an image that is in focus & not moving around.
You can even record a video through the app, while you inject voltage into the short, so you can go back & see exactly which component was it that was heating up.
Save yourself lots of time by getting a Seek Cam, Stand & Macro Lens! ...
Anyone who is doing game console repairs, knows how many screws you need to remove to access the motherboard.
Especially the PS5, with the 5,000 screws or so.
If you don't already have an electric screwdriver, GET ONE ASAP.
🌟 Cordless Screwdriver with T9 Bit: https://amzn.to/3E5duCj
🌟Extended T9 Bit: https://amzn.to/3c4YJac
It's rechargeable through micro USB and allows you to easily swap the tips out. You can also fold it to be straight or L shape.
Let me know below if you are already using an electric screwdriver 👇👇
This iPad Pro 11-inch had already been worked on, but the real problem wasn’t the port.
Using a USB-C PD meter and Mechanic USB-C tester, I was able to confirm abnormal charging behavior and trace the issue deeper into the board. The fault ended up being a failed CD3215C00 charging controller IC and TriStar.
After replacing the ICs, recovering the battery voltage, and verifying proper USB-C PD negotiation, the iPad returned to full 15V fast charging.
This is why proper diagnostics matter. The charging port is only one part of the circuit.
—
Repair techs: how often do you see charging IC failures after port damage?
—
Watch the full repair video here 👀:
Just posted a new iPad charging port repair video for techs dealing with base model iPads and Air/Pro variants with soldered dock flexes.
This iPad 7 was a classic life but no charge case. In the video I walk through:
- Confirming it’s a charging issue and not a no-power board fault
- Using a USB charging meter to verify current draw
- Verifying the port with the Mechanic Lightning tester
- Confirming dock flex failure with the Blue Tristar tester
- The soldering technique I use to remove and replace these dock flexes without ripping pads or damaging surrounding components
This design applies to multiple iPad generations, so the diagnostic and soldering process carries over to a lot of models.
Curious who still struggles with replacing these dock flexes without ripping pads?
🔥Full video breakdown of diagnosing and replacing a soldered iPad charging port:
Device came in water damaged after a previous repair attempt by another technician.
Board had scraped areas near the battery connector, unnecessary UV mask around multiple components, and incomplete inspection (main CPU shield was never removed).
Initial checks:
VPH power and VBAT lines not shorted
1V8 rail was hard shorted
Troubleshooting process:
Removed shields that were never taken off during the previous attempt
Removed charging IC due to questionable solder work
Removed a nearby IC that was still corroded underneath
Used DCPS + thermal camera to inject voltage and attempt to locate the short
Continued inspection and testing until no further progress could be made
At that point, proceeded with a full CPU swap:
CPU, RAM, UFS, and EEPROM transplanted to a known good board
Device booted and data was successfully recovered.
Full breakdown is up on YouTube. Link in the comments below
