Google only officially took the wraps off the Pixel 8 a few hours ago, and people are already tearing it apart. In a video posted on YouTube, PBKreviews gave a first look at all the hardware behind the phone's 6.2-inch OLED screen. The teardown process is relatively simple, with Google taking an "easy-to-repair" approach to several aspects, including the battery.
The video begins with PBKreviews carefully removing the display, which houses the fingerprint sensor. After trying to remove the 4575mAh battery using the included pull tab, PBKreviews used isopropyl alcohol to loosen the adhesive underneath the battery and then used a pry to remove it.
The Pixel 8's display assembly is easily removable, has an entire layer of copper heatsinks to help transfer heat, and a sizable in-screen fingerprint reader. Additionally, 14 T4 screws hold the logic board in place, so the parts don't take long to separate from each other.
Next, PBKreviews removes the 10.5MP selfie camera and pops up a 50MP main sensor along with a 12MP ultrawide camera. The video also shows off the millimeter wave 5G antenna footprint (which Verizon charges an extra $100 for). On the device's motherboard, you can see proximity and ambient light sensors as well as RAM. There's also a USB-C port soldered to the motherboard, which PBKreviews says may make it harder to replace.
The Pixel 8 starts at $699 and gets quite a performance upgrade thanks to the new TensorG3 chip. Hopefully we get a Pixel 8 Pro teardown soon, as I'd also like to see the technology behind the temperature sensor and 5x telephoto lens.