Sony Xperia XZ2 Teardown

Although the Sony Xperia XZ2 was launched at MWC this year, it has only recently been on sale in China. The biggest highlight of this phone is its full-screen design. The phone boasts an excellent appearance and design, with glass applied to both the front plate and back cover. Today, we will start the Sony XZ2’s teardown to show its internal design and workmanship.

1. Removing the display assembly

First, remove the SIM card tray. This phone is compatible with a TF card. However, few smartphones currently adopt TF cards, so in my opinion, it is not necessary for the phone to use a TF card.

I try to utilize a hot air gun to heat up the back cover and then remove the back cover with a sucker. However, it doesn’t work. The back cover fails to be separated from the phone body.

Therefore, I intend to separate the front screen from the phone body. I heat up the edges of the smartphone.

After uncovering the screen module, we see that the edges have been thickened to resist impact. The screen is separated from other electronic components by a layer of stainless steel plate. Many graphite stickers have been designed on the motherboard to help with heat dissipation.

2. Removing the stainless steel plate

The way the cover is secured to the display cable is very interesting. We need to push one side of the cover plate, and then the plate can be removed.

We can see that the front camera has occupied the top bezel except for the rubber ring. The bezel at the bottom keeps the same length as the top bezel. From that, we can infer that Sony has kept the chin and forehead as narrow as possible, but the LCD occupies a large area.

A stainless steel plate covers its battery and the top of the motherboard. This smartphone uses the same blue motherboard as the Samsung Galaxy S9. Half of the bare linear vibrator can be seen at the bottom.

After removing all the screws used to fix the stainless steel plate, we can easily take out the stainless steel cover plate.

3. Removing the battery

The motherboard occupies a large area of the phone’s internal space. It is obvious that the motherboard has low space integration. In fact, the Sony XZ P motherboard also has low integration. Many manufacturers, including Huawei and Apple, have improved their motherboards’ space integration to give the battery a bigger capacity.

The square module on the left of the bottom is Sony’s linear vibrator. This vibrator has a smaller volume than the iPhone’s, and its volume is basically the same size as that of the Meizu 15.

Taking out the battery is really easy.  A metal tray is placed at the bottom of the battery. The battery is fixed on the metal tray by two easy-pull glue tapes, while the metal tray is fixed on the phone body by screws. The battery fails to be directly fixed on the phone body because of the cable at the bottom.

4. Removing the front camera

Take out the front camera module. The phone has a 5MP front camera with the F/2.2 aperture, whose minimum ISO reaches 1600. The camera supports SteadyShot mode.

Successfully take out the main camera. The components on the back of the motherboard can be clearly seen. Two large shield covers protect internal chips, and the covers have a flat surface.

After tearing down the main camera, we can get five parts. The small CPB mainly deals with data processing and data-driven sensor and flash.

Uncover the shield cover on the PCB; the chip 55303 from NXP can be seen inside.

5. Chips

After removing the silicone, the 6GB LPDDR4 memory and 64GB UFS2.1 flash storage can be seen. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chip is sealed under the memory chip. Its power management IC is PMI8998.

Qualcomm’s RF solutions have been applied to the motherboard to a large degree. We can see Qualcomm QPM2621, QPM2632,  QPM2643, QDM3620, QDM3630, PM845, SDR845 and QDM3640.

At the same time, we see the entire sensor module at the top. The module includes headphones, noise-canceling microphones, light distance sensors, and breathing lights. It can be seen that the module has a high level of integration. However, such a design increases maintenance costs.

Next, tear down the module at the bottom. Take out the screws near the linear vibrator.

6. Removing the loudspeaker and wireless charging module

This PCB is provided by UMT. Take out the loudspeaker at the bottom easily. The sound chamber’s volume has been increased. The large sound chamber can bring better sound quality. Take out the wireless charging module.

Summary

In general, the teardown process is not easy. Sony Xperia XZ2 can fulfill all the requirements of its fans. With a unique appearance, good water resistance, linear motors, and high technology, this smartphone offers you an excellent user experience. In addition, it has good quality. However, the XZ2 lacks portability and has a short battery life.