iFixit cracks open iPad mini 3, as expected finds exactly one major change

Apple launched the new iPad Mini 3 among several other devices, earlier this month. The successor to last year’s iPad mini with Retina display, the iPad mini 3 comes with a Touch ID sensor, and apparently that’s it. The iFixit folks cracked open the device to find exactly no other major changes inside the iPad mini 3.

According to the folks who tore down the Retina iMac, Mac mini, and iPad Air 2recently, the new iPad mini 3 only has one noticeable change, and that’s the inclusion of fingerprint sensor Touch ID. The other two key differences are the availability of varied storage capacity options, and a gold colored variant.

Besides that, the iPad mini 3 still has the same A7 processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera as found in the second-generation iPad mini. Apple has again partnered with NXP Semiconductors for the M7 motion coprocessors and SK Hynix for the NAND Flash and DRAM.

The iFixit guys also revealed that the company has used hot glue to stick the home button bracket to the front panel of the device. Which basically means that if you break the screen, it will be extremely jarring to swap the bracket, and thus the programmed Touch ID to get the screen out and replaced. Hence for that reason, theiFixit gave it a reparability score of 2 out of 10.