iFixit Tears Down the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4: A Pull Tab, a 4/10, and a Legal Fight

The newest Apple Watches have been on wrists for only a few weeks, and the repair community has already taken them apart to see whether this generation is any easier to keep alive. The verdict from iFixit's teardown bench, published this week: one small step forward, and one full stop.

Both the Apple Watch Series 12 and the Apple Watch Ultra 4 earned repairability scores of 4 out of 10. For the Series 12, that is genuine progress: it is one point better than the last base-model Apple Watch iFixit scored, and the gain comes from real internal changes. For the Ultra 4, the score is identical to every Apple Watch Ultra that came before it, a four-generation run of the same result.

The teardown also sharpened a legal argument. iFixit says Apple is "out of compliance" with right-to-repair laws now on the books in ten US states, because the company does not sell Apple Watch repair parts, service tools, or repair manuals. The group says it is preparing evidence for state attorneys general. That turns a teardown from a curiosity into a potential test case.

The Series 12's small win

The Series 12's improvement is modest but real. Apple added stretch-release adhesive with a pull tab holding the battery, replacing the stubborn glue that previously required heat and prying. It also dropped the fragile ZIF connector that complicated display repairs, swapping in a simpler press connector. Together, those changes lifted the score a full point.

The limits remain severe. There is no way to reach the battery without first removing the glued-down display, and swapping the display itself requires removing the battery, since the two are now interdependent. iFixit's technician found the display tolerances even tighter than on the Ultra 4, meaning the force needed to pry the watch open risks damaging the screen you are trying to save. The battery grew slightly, to 1.461Wh from 1.403Wh in the 46mm Series 11, so owners get a little more runtime in the same sealed package.

A battery pull tab on the Series 12 is the first genuine repair win on a base-model Apple Watch in years. But the Ultra 4 shows Apple still treats glue as a design philosophy.

The Ultra 4 stands still

On the Ultra 4, the teardown found no repairability changes at all. Copious adhesive bonds the casing to the display for waterproofing, and the battery can only be reached through the screen, where one slip of the prying tool can slice the display cable. The battery did grow, to 2.444Wh from 2.313Wh in the Ultra 3, roughly a 5.7 percent gain, but none of that extra capacity is any easier to replace. Four generations of Ultra watches now carry the identical 4 out of 10 score, a record of consistency that works against owners, not for them.

Google shows it doesn't have to be this way

The comparison iFixit keeps returning to is Google's Pixel Watch 5, which scored 9 out of 10. Its display comes off with two Torx screws and a gasket, and the battery lifts out without any adhesive to fight. The point is not that Google is unusually generous. It is that a small, waterproof, sensor-packed watch can be designed for access. Apple has simply chosen not to, and the Series 12's own pull tab proves the company knows exactly how.

The legal fight underneath the glue

iFixit's teardown ended with something more aggressive than a score. The group says Apple is "out of compliance" with right-to-repair statutes in ten states, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota, Texas, New York, Maryland, and Connecticut, because it does not sell Apple Watch parts, tools, or manuals. It says it is assembling evidence to brief state attorneys general. Apple has said it complies through its Self-Service Repair program, though iFixit argues that program does not cover the Watch the way the laws require.

The timing matters. This is the first full product cycle since Texas's electronics right-to-repair law took effect in September, and several of the named states passed or strengthened repair statutes this year. The EU's repair directive, which began applying to covered products this summer, separately bans manufacturers from refusing repairs just because a device is out of warranty or was previously fixed by an independent shop. The regulatory pressure is tightening on exactly the practices the teardown documents.

What this means for your wrist

For owners, the practical math is simple. A battery is the part most likely to die in a smartwatch, and in the Series 12 it is now merely difficult to replace instead of punishing, while in the Ultra 4 it remains punishing. International Repair Day on October 17 gives the story a public stage, but the calendar that matters most is the legal one: if even one attorney general acts on iFixit's evidence, the Watch could become the first Apple product forced to ship with genuine repair support. Until then, the pull tab is the win, and the glue is the warning.