Huawei’s P40 Pro isn’t packed with a visible earpiece speaker and now there’s a video showing why that’s the case. Taken apart by Zack Nelson of JerryRigEverything, the P40 Pro had already survived the popular YouTuber’s durability test. And, as it turns out, the internals here are equally impressive in terms of both layout and components.
The recently uploaded video — embedded below — doesn’t take the teardown all the way to the screen being taken off, however. Thay may ultimately be some indication of how repairable the screen here is going to be. But the rest of the phone, at the very least, appears to be fairly straightforward.
What’s on the inside of the P40 Pro is not a standard earpiece speaker
As most fans of the device likely already know, what’s on the inside of the Huawei P40 Pro powering conversations is not a standard earpiece speaker. Instead, there’s a strong magnet at the top of the phone, tucked behind everything else. That’s utilized in tandem with the thin glass of the display, which works as a speaker membrane.
Starting with the back panel, the YouTuber notes that the device is IP68 rated for water and dust protection. That, of course, means that there’s plenty of strong adhesive holding the rear glass to the frame. Mr. Nelson starts but heating the back panel up, attaching a suction cup, and running a razor around the edges. Some careful prying to avoid breaking the glass later, and that twists away.
There aren’t any cables to be seen, attaching the back panel to the internals but there is a nub that seems to run from the rear-facing mic through the gadget. Everything else is attached via pin-style connectors instead. And the rest of the device is equally well-organized too.
Once the back panel is off, screws holding down the wireless charging pad and board cover can be removed. Then, there is an array of connectors, primarily linked along the bottom of the board. There are a couple of connectors at the top too, for connecting the front-facing camera hardware. While those are covered by tape, the entire device is linked up by poppable “Lego-style” connectors.
A few fasteners must be removed and the dual-stacked board comes away. The main cameras come away attached to that board.
That reveals some thermal paste, an under-screen vapor chamber for cooling, and the magnet and small speaker that turns the front glass into a larger speaker.
Flagships are starting to get boring on the inside?
Now, the remaining components are effectively a bottom board powering components along the bottom of the device and the battery. The battery comes out first, with some prying to loosen it from the clear adhesive tape holding it in place.
Mr. Nelson removes a few more screws the bottom board, speaker, and charging components, as well as the fingerprint scanner, can be disconnected. The fingerprint scanner is glued to the display. So, overall, the device is easy enough to take apart, aside from the battery or the fingerprint scanner and display assembly.
The popular YouTuber comments that none of the internals is really all that surprising and neither is the layout. The YouTuber notes that most flagships are now effectively copying internal design forward from device to device with any given manufacturer. And there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of difference between manufacturers either. At least on that front.
But, at the very least, it does appear as though most components aside from the display and attached fingerprint reader, are going to be easy enough to replace if needed.