iFixit Tears Down M2 MacBook Air, Finds Accelerometer and Adhesive Pull Tabs for Battery

With the M2 MacBook Air now available for purchase, repair site iFixit picked one up and decided to do one of its traditional teardowns on the machine to give us a look inside.


A prior teardown already revealed the biggest potential issue with the base model 256GB ‌M2‌ ‌MacBook Air‌ - a single storage chip, which is confirmed in iFixit's teardown. Rather than using two 128GB NAND storage chips like the prior-generation 256GB M1 ‌MacBook Air‌, the new machine has a single 256GB NAND flash chip.

The 256GB NAND flash chip in the ‌M2‌ ‌MacBook Air‌ demonstrates 30 to 50 percent slower SSD speeds in benchmark testing than the prior-generation ‌MacBook Air‌ with two 128GB NAND chips, but Apple has claimed that despite the benchmark results, overall real-world performance is "even faster."

Along with the 256GB NAND storage chip, iFixit's teardown revealed other logic board components that include the 64-bit 8-core ‌M2‌ chip, an Apple-designed Thunderbolt 3 driver, a USI Bluetooth and WiFi chip, and curiously, an accelerometer. There's no word yet on what the accelerometer might be for.

iFixit did not find a heat spreader, and the site is unclear on the passive cooling mechanism that Apple might be using for the ‌M2‌ ‌MacBook Air‌.

How does this thing cool down? Sure it has a lot of thermal paste and graphite tape, and yeah the M2 is efficient, but this shield is super thin, so it's not helping much, and the case is lighter than last year. Maybe the M2 Air is secretly an iPad, or maybe Apple is just letting it run hot.

Like the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, the ‌M2‌ ‌MacBook Air‌ features easy access adhesive pull tabs to secure the battery, making it simpler and quicker to remove. The ‌M2‌ ‌MacBook Air‌ includes a 52.6-watt‑hour battery, up from the 49.9-watt-hour battery offered in the ‌M1‌ version of the ‌MacBook Air‌.

All of the ports in the ‌MacBook Air‌ are modular and not glued down, but the SSD and the ‌M2‌ chip are soldered, as expected, and cannot be easily upgraded or replaced. iFixit's full teardown can be watched on YouTube, and includes additional details on the battery and the build of the ‌MacBook Air‌.

Related Roundup: MacBook Air
Tag: iFixit
Buyer's Guide: 13" MacBook Air (Buy Now)
Related Forum: MacBook Air

Top Rated Comments

Danfango Avatar
22 months ago
I love how hostile all the comments are on Macrumors. It's starting to sound like Slashdot circa 1998 when the blue iMac came out.
Score: 42 Votes (Like | Disagree)
EastHillWill Avatar
22 months ago

I love how hostile all the comments are on Macrumors. It's starting to sound like Slashdot circa 1998 when the blue iMac came out.
I understand the 'constructive criticism' comments, and even the occasional venting--that's just part of being passionate about something. But yes, the straight up 'Apple sucks, I hate their products!' comments are bizarre. Why are those people even here? (I mean, I know why--they're trolling, and it's sad.)
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MTD's Mac Avatar
22 months ago
Accelerometer?

To log drops for denying warranty service? Or what?
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Danfango Avatar
22 months ago

I don't know how, but Apple managed to put on the M2 MBA a 4-speaker system worse than the M1 MBA's 2-speaker system.

If you don't believe me, hear it for yourself (on 4min:20sec):


You can't tell sound quality from a YouTube video or YouTube influencer. You have to go actually listen to it or you're listening to the recording of it not the laptop...
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lazyrighteye Avatar
22 months ago

I understand the 'constructive criticism' comments, and even the occasional venting--that's just part of being passionate about something. But yes, the straight up 'Apple sucks, I hate their products!' comments are bizarre. Why are those people even here? (I mean, I know why--they're trolling, and it's sad.)
It literally one of the weirdest social behaviors. Look, being critical of Apple and discussing how to be even better is always welcome, healthy discourse. But it’s the seemingly increasing number of odd balls that actually go to a forum of a company, CEO, ecosystem (whatever) they clearly do not like and let’s us all know they don’t. What’s the objective? The point?

Even if I was incredibly bored, disfunctionally bitter and in dire need of a hug, I’d never go to androidrumors.com to vomit in their forums. Again, one of the weirdest.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dennis264 Avatar
22 months ago
Wait, haven't Macs had accelerometers in them since the first MacBooks? I remember a Stevenote with Steve swinging some sort of 'Book around.


https://macsaber.en.uptodown.com/mac
And there is a pre-existing api:
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/coremotion/getting_raw_accelerometer_events
How is this different?
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

reset password request iphone

Warning: Apple Users Targeted in Phishing Attack Involving Rapid Password Reset Requests

Tuesday March 26, 2024 4:34 pm PDT by
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple's password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they'll respond favorably to social engineering. An...
maxresdefault

Apple to Launch New iPad Pro and iPad Air Models in May

Thursday March 28, 2024 11:07 am PDT by
Apple will introduce new iPad Pro and iPad Air models in early May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman previously suggested the new iPads would come out in March, and then April, but the timeline has been pushed back once again. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple is working on updates to both the iPad Pro and iPad Air models. The iPad Pro models will...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Purple

iOS 18: What to Expect From 'Biggest' Update in iPhone's History

Wednesday March 27, 2024 11:10 am PDT by
At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. "The iOS 18 update is expected to be the most ambitious overhaul of the iPhone's software in its history, according to people working on the upgrade," wrote Gurman, in a r...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2024 Event for June 10 to 14

Tuesday March 26, 2024 10:02 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new...
apple maps 3d feature

Apple Maps May Gain Custom Routes With iOS 18

Tuesday March 26, 2024 3:10 pm PDT by
Apple may be planning to add support for "custom routes" in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple's pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled "CustomRouteCreation." While not much is revealed...
General iOS 17 Feature Orange Purple

Apple Releases Revised Versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 With Updated Build Number

Wednesday March 27, 2024 5:59 am PDT by
Apple on late Tuesday released revised versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 with an updated build number of 21E237, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The updates previously had a build number of 21E236. The revised updates are available for all iPhone and iPad models that are compatible with iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, but they can only be installed via the Finder app on macOS...
applephilschiller

Apple's Phil Schiller Works 80 Hours a Week Overseeing App Store

Wednesday March 27, 2024 2:03 pm PDT by
With the App Store and app ecosystem undergoing major changes in the European Union, The Wall Street Journal today shared a profile on App Store chief Phil Schiller, who is responsible for the App Store. Though Schiller transitioned from marketing chief to "Apple Fellow" in 2020 to take a step back from Apple and spend more time on personal projects and friends, he is reportedly working...