iPhone 6 Plus Teardown

All the individual parts of the iPhone 6 Plus

Taking apart the new iPhone 6 Plus down to the last detail. We show you all the important components and find out how difficult future repairs will be.

Required tools

For storing screws

For storing screws

We recommend storing your screws so you don’t mix up the various screws and small parts.
from €10.99 on Amazon
Tweezers

Tweezers

We recommend using tweezers to remove screws and various small parts from your device.
on Amazon
Pick Set

Pick Set

You need a flat but stable tool such as a pick to pry out parts that are glued in place.
from €14.99 on Amazon
Plastic prying tool

Plastic prying tool

You need a flat plastic prying tool to disconnect the various plugs and connectors.
from €14.99 on Amazon
Steel Laboratory Spatula

Steel Laboratory Spatula

You need a flat and sturdy prying tool to disconnect glued parts.
on Amazon
Pentalobe PL1 screwdriver

Pentalobe PL1 screwdriver

You need the right screwdriver for removing pentalobe PL1 screws.
on Amazon
Phillips PH00 screwdriver

Phillips PH00 screwdriver

You need the right screwdriver for removing PH00 screws.
from €10.84 on Amazon
Phillips screwdriver with centering pin

Phillips screwdriver with centering pin

Phillips screwdriver with practical centering pin for logic board screws.
on Amazon

Show all replacement parts for the iPhone 6 Plus

Steps

16 Steps

iPhone 6 Plus teardown

Step 1

Turning off your Device

Step 2

Removing the enclosure screws

Step 3

Disconnecting the display

Step 4

iSight camera

Step 5

Battery

Step 6

Standby button

Step 7

Vibration motor

Step 8

Speaker

Step 9

Lightning connector

Step 10

Home button

Step 11

Earpiece and FaceTime camera

Step 12

Rear panel

Step 13

Logic board

Step 14

Volume buttons

Step 15

Summary

Step 16

Getting started with the repair of your iPhone 6 Plus

If you get stuck or have questions, you can post a comment. We’d be happy to help.

16 steps

iPhone 6 Plus teardown
With the iPhone 6 Plus, Apple is closing the gap between iPhones and “phablets.” From the outside, the only difference between this phone and its little brother is the size. In the following steps, we’ll show you the parts waiting for you inside the phone. We’ll let you know at the end whether the iPhone 6 Plus is any easier to repair.

Key data on the iPhone 6:

OS: iOS 8

Dimensions: 158.1 x 77.8 x 7.1 mm
Weight: 172 g

Display: 5.5" Multi-Touch (1920 x 1080 pixels), 401 ppi

Chip: A8 chip with 64-bit architecture

RAM: 1 GB

Memory: 16 / 64 / 128 GB

Rear camera: iSight 8 MP with Focus Pixels with optical image stabilization

Front camera: 1.2 MP

Battery: 2915 mAh
Turning off your Device
Turn your iPhone off completely to avoid damaging it during the repair. Press the standby button for about three seconds until the slider appears.
Wipe it from left to right. Now your iPhone will shut down completely, which can take about ten seconds.
Removing the enclosure screws
No changes here: Just like in previous models and the iPhone 6, you have to remove the two pentalobe screws on the Lightning connector first.
Disconnecting the display
It was easy to disconnect the iPhone 6’s display. Does the same go for its big brother?
Using a suction cup and pick, we carefully lift the screen. Once again, this is very easy. No unpleasant surprises from the Home button cable: The Home button’s ribbon cable is hidden below the rear panel so it’s not in the way when you lift the display.
As we expected, the display connections are hidden under a cover. You can’t disconnect the display contacts until you’ve unscrewed this cover.
iSight camera
The camera is easy to remove, but is fitted more securely into its socket. It’s under a cover and attached to the logic board by a connector.
Battery
Three of the adhesive strips introduced for the iPhone 5s and 5c hold the big battery in place in this phone’s back cover.
If you want to install the battery properly again, you’ll have to use new adhesive strips.
Standby button
Removing the standby button is also easier with the iPhone 6 Plus. ABecause of its new position on the iPhone’s side panel, you now have enough space to unscrew and screw it in on both sides. In all the previous models, removing it took a lot of patience because the standby button was in the upper corner. This change has made things a lot simpler.
Both the ambient microphone and the flash are on the standby button cable set.
Vibration motor
The shape of the vibration motor is a little different but still rectangular. As in the iPhone 4s, it’s at the end of the logic board.
Removing the vibration motor is harder because there’s an antenna cable soldered onto it. You also have to disconnect this cable from the logic board.

Speaker
The speaker is just screwed in place so it’s very easy to remove. You wouldn’t have to remove the logic board to replace it.
The shape of the speaker is a little different from the ones in previous models.
Lightning connector
Not much about the Lightning connector has changed since the iPhone 5 was released: You have to remove several screws. The cable set is glued pretty firmly in place. Be careful if you detach it.
As previously, the headphone input, microphone, Lightning connector and an antenna cable are attached to a cable harness. For the reasons explained above, there’s no socket for the Home button connector like there was in the iPhone 5s.
Home button
Let’s go ahead and remove the Home button. Once again, you can’t miss the similarities to the iPhone 5, 5c and 5s. The Home button may be identical to the one in the iPhone 6.
First, we remove the metal cover over the Home button. The Home button connection is connected to the back of the display. As a result, the cable set is pretty short.
Earpiece and FaceTime camera
There’s a cover over the earpiece, which is located under the cable set for the FaceTime camera. Because both parts are only lightly glued in place, it’s pretty easy to lift them out.
As usual, both an ambient microphone and the proximity sensor are on the cable set.
Rear panel
It’s very easy to unscrew the rear panel and lift it out.
As in the iPhone 6, the new ribbon cable is routed completely below the rear panel.
Logic board
The logic board isn’t significantly larger than the board in the iPhone 6, but it’s a little wider.
The logic board is screwed in place at several points. Before you can lift it out, you have to remove the SIM card tray, and disconnect the Lightning connector.
There’s another cable, which you also have to disconnect, under the board.
Volume buttons
More good news: When you’re removing the cable for the volume controller, you don’t have to remove the logic board. All you have to do is unscrew the Wi-Fi antenna.
Both the volume buttons and the mute button are on the cable set.
Like in previous devices, the cable set is glued to the aluminum enclosure, but relatively easy to detach.
Summary
Both the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus are easier to repair than the models just before them. Some repairs now take fewer steps. The differences in the structure of the two smartphones are really minimal. It’s worth mentioning that removing the vibration motor is the one thing that’s somewhat more difficult.
We were especially pleased about the following:

You don’t need as much force to open the phone and remove the display

The cable for the Home button/Touch ID is protected better than in previous models so it’s less likely to get damaged when you open the phone

The flexible flat cables for the standby switch and audio jack are now separate and easy to replace

You no longer have to remove the logic board to replace the volume cable set. You still have to for the speaker, vibration motor, Lightning connector and iSight camera

The new adhesive system makes it much easier to remove the battery

It’s also even easier to replace the standby button now that it’s no longer so hard to get at

From a user’s point of view, the new curved front glass could turn out to be a step backward. Because of its exposed position, the display is even more likely to be damaged if dropped than it was on previous models. Certain replacement parts like the display or the iSight camera will probably be more expensive than for the iPhone 6.