‘Baffling’ 10th-gen iPad teardown solves the mystery of the Apple Pencil

The maintenance site iFixit appears to be to have solved just one of the major mysteries relating to the 10th-gen iPad in its most recent teardown video clip.

When Apple declared the new iPad in Oct, reviewers ended up baffled and annoyed by Apple’s determination to support the 1st-gen Apple Pencil (from way back again in 2015) instead than the remarkable 2nd-gen design introduced in 2018. This was a specially odd option for the reason that the iPad by itself switched from Lightning to USB-C, meaning it was required to use a dongle to charge or pair the stylus.

There’s been a lot of speculation about why Apple selected this approach, which include a rumor that a more acceptable 3rd-gen Apple Pencil was at first supposed to launch at the identical time. But most folks assumed the determination had anything to do with the new position of the iPad’s front-going through digicam, which now lies on the identical edge where by the 2nd-gen Apple Pencil would attach magnetically when charging.

By opening up the tablet’s chassis and revealing the positions of the magnets and digicam unit, iFixit’s teardown appears to validate this principle.

“The assert is that Apple could not in good shape the wi-fi charging assembly for the Pencil Gen 2 in listed here, because that is in which the landscape digicam now sits, and as we can see, this would seem to be the scenario,” points out the presenter. “As it stands, the magnets on the Apple Pencil Gen 2 do not rather line up with the iPad 10’s magnets.

“If [the wireless charging coil] were to be moved down, you could theoretically have a Pencil that can attach here, but then the wi-fi charging coil would interfere with the magnet placement. It is a little bit of a Capture 22 and it’s a thing that the Apple engineers are no question doing the job on figuring out.”

Elsewhere, iFixit offers a combined verdict on the interior layout of the newest iPad. The web site reserves its strongest criticism for the repairability of the USB-C ribbon, which “is welded to the logic board, which is a massive style and design fall short. Factors uncovered to significant mechanical don need to usually be modular.”

iFixit notes that this isn’t a new failing with Apple’s tablets, but is continue to let down that Apple has not enhanced issues.