iPhone XS Teardown Reveals New Single-Cell L-Shaped Battery

Dutch repair site FixjeiPhone today shared a teardown of the iPhone XS, providing us with our first look inside the 5.8-inch model.

A side-by-side comparison shot with the iPhone X reveals that the internal layout of the iPhone XS has not changed significantly, with the most obvious difference being a new single-cell L-shaped battery with a capacity of 2,658 mAh.

iphone x vs iphone xs teardown
The battery was also L-shaped in the iPhone X, but it was a two-cell configuration, instead of a single lithium-ion battery pack.

While the iPhone XS's battery has around 2.2 percent less capacity than the 2,716 mAh battery in the iPhone X, Apple says the iPhone XS gets up to 30 minutes longer battery life than the iPhone X per charge cycle, presumably due to efficiency gains from the A12 Bionic chip and other components.

FixjeiPhone shared a photo of the iPhone XS almost completely disassembled, but it has not labeled any components or manufacturers.

iPhone XS teardown all
Their video teardown, which can be watched with English subtitles on YouTube, indicates that the display is a bit harder to remove due to stronger seals that help the iPhone XS achieve its improved IP68-rated water resistance.


Repair site iFixit should have more detailed iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max teardowns soon after the devices launch in stores tomorrow.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

Aston Martin CarPlay Ultra Screen

Apple's CarPlay Ultra to Expand to These Vehicle Brands Later This Year

Sunday February 1, 2026 10:08 am PST by
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly nine months later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon. In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis. In his Powe...
Apple Logo Black

Apple Just Made Its Second-Biggest Acquisition Ever After Beats

Thursday January 29, 2026 10:07 am PST by
Apple today confirmed to Reuters that it has acquired Q.ai, an Israeli startup that is working on artificial intelligence technology for audio. Apple paid close to $2 billion for Q.ai, according to sources cited by the Financial Times. That would make this Apple's second-biggest acquisition ever, after it paid $3 billion for the popular headphone and audio brand Beats in 2014. Q.ai has...
Apple Logo Black

Apple's Next Launch is 'Imminent'

Sunday February 1, 2026 12:31 pm PST by
The calendar has turned to February, and a new report indicates that Apple's next product launch is "imminent," in the form of new MacBook Pro models. "All signs point to an imminent launch of next-generation MacBook Pros that retain the current form factor but deliver faster chips," Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said on Sunday. "I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

Apple Changes How You Order a Mac

Saturday January 31, 2026 10:51 am PST by
Apple recently updated its online store with a new ordering process for Macs, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro. There used to be a handful of standard configurations available for each Mac, but now you must configure a Mac entirely from scratch on a feature-by-feature basis. In other words, ordering a new Mac now works much like ordering an...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero

New MacBook Pros Reportedly Launching Alongside macOS 26.3

Sunday February 1, 2026 5:42 am PST by
Apple is planning to launch new MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips alongside macOS 26.3, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "Apple's faster MacBook Pros are planned for the macOS 26.3 release cycle," wrote Gurman, in his Power On newsletter today. "I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated for the macOS 26.3 software cycle, which runs from...

Top Rated Comments

AngerDanger Avatar
96 months ago
FixjeiPhone shared a photo of the iPhone XS almost completely disassembled, but it has not labeled any components or manufacturers.
I gotcha covered, mate:



Attachment Image
Score: 40 Votes (Like | Disagree)
maflynn Avatar
96 months ago
Looks like someone beat iFixit to the punch :eek:
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Howard2k Avatar
96 months ago
So... Except for the CPU upgrade, the Xs is last year's technology and design. Can someone please explain to me why the price of the phone hasn't gotten cheaper?
Yeah, it's just simple basic business. The actual term we use is "economics".

Price doesn't directly correlate to cost.

Cost is how much you need to spend to build and bring to market.
Price is how much the end user will pay.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Return Zero Avatar
96 months ago
So... Except for the CPU upgrade, the Xs is last year's technology and design. Can someone please explain to me why the price of the phone hasn't gotten cheaper?
There's a whole plethora of small upgrades on the XS, including a RAM bump, better waterproofing, faster LTE chip, better speakers and mics, bigger camera sensor, stronger cover glass, faster Face ID, not to mention all the ongoing software/services/security development, most of which comes included in the price of the phone but is absolutely not free to produce. In what world does that necessitate a price drop? By all means, go complain on the Mac Pro thread about old tech not being discounted enough, but doing it here just makes you look ignorant.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iapplelove Avatar
96 months ago
I think it’s a testament to how good the iPhone X truly was last year..

There is a reason Apple didn’t sell it for 899.99 along side the 2018 offerings lol

No one would have bought the XS.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
zubikov Avatar
96 months ago
Over the last few years, Apple managed to create a device that slows down large scale IP theft from Chinese and Korean hack shops. Huawei and Samsung can steal 7nm chip schematics all they want. But when you have 4low-2high cores, a neural engine, and the rest of the chip tailored specifically to your OS and hardware, that's much much harder to thief and replicate.

Johny Srouji, the true hero behind all of this.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)