Teardown: Apple Watch Series 6 has slightly larger battery than predecessor

The recently released Apple Watch Series 6 has a battery with a slightly larger capacity than its predecessor Series 5, according to iFixit on the basis of a teardown. The larger battery stands out because the housing is a bit thinner than last year’s model.

The 44mm variant of the Watch Series 6 has a battery with a capacity of 1.17Wh, which is an increase of 3.5 percent over the Watch Series 5, iFixit says. The site notes that this new capacity is lower than the 1.3Wh battery of the Galaxy Watch3. The battery of the 40mm version of the Watch Series 6 has a capacity of 1,024Wh, which is an 8.5 percent improvement over the predecessor.

There is also now a larger Taptic Engine. That’s Apple’s implementation of haptic feedback. Despite the increased capacities of the batteries and the larger Taptic Engine, the case is slightly thinner at 10.4mm compared to 10.74mm for last year’s model. Apple may have made room by dropping the Force Touch function, which requires an extra layer in the touchscreen.

In addition, iFixit has focused on the question of how easy the new smartwatch is to repair. According to the site, it is possible to replace the screen, although it is difficult. Replacing the battery is a bit easier, according to iFixit, and is fairly self-explanatory if the user has opened the watch. The site is less enthusiastic about the use of three-point screws, which turned out to be difficult to remove. The site is especially critical of mounting certain component cables on the S6 chip, which means that replacement is only possible through ‘skilled micro-soldering’.

Apple recently announced that the Series 6 costs 429 euros, or 529 euros for the version with cellular data connection. The new Watch Series 6 has a blood oxygen meter with optical sensors on the back. The S6 soc in the Watch Series 6 is a dual-core based on the A13 Bionic soc, according to Apple, and is said to be 20 percent faster than the S5 soc. Furthermore, the U1 ultra-wide band chip will be included in the Series 6 and the OLED screen achieves a higher brightness in standby to better read the screen outside.