Here's what you find when you tear apart an Apple Watch

The first Apple Watches have begun shipping, and the folks at the gadget repair site iFixIt got their hands on one. So of course they immediately tore it apart, permanently damaging the device in the process.

The teardown gave us the first glimpse at the hardware that makes the Apple Watch tick. The largest component in the Apple Watch is the battery, which iFixIt found will be fairly easy to replace. But that's not true of other Apple Watch components.

The S1 computing chip that powers the Watch is permanently soldered in place, which could make it difficult for Apple to offer upgrades to early adopters of the more expensive Apple Watch models.

Here's what the internals of the Apple Watch look like once you lay them all out side by side:

Will you join us?

Our biggest supporters are our readers — and we’re so grateful to everyone who has made a contribution during our September campaign. We’re less than 1,000 contributions away from reaching our goal for the month, which in turn will allow us to say yes more often when our incredible journalists come to us with questions they want to answer and projects they want to pursue. Will you make a contribution before the month ends and support our policy coverage through 2024 and beyond?

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via