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Apple Watch insides revealed in product teardown

It’s Apple Watch release day, and though many who preordered are still due a lengthy wait before delivery, the guys over at iFixit got theirs nice and early – and it hasn’t taken them long to completely tear it apart.

In the name of science, the repair-lovers completely disassembled an Apple Watch Sport – and in truth the guts are almost more impressive than the skin. It’s clear Apple’s design team spent a lot of time refining every last detail to ensure they could cram the best technology possible into such a small space. Some of the photos are pretty great.

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The new Taptic Engine, Apple’s reinvention of the linear actuator for sensing and delivering vibrations on-screen

The teardown revealed what looks to be a ‘pulse oximeter’ hidden way down at the bottom of the casing, suggesting that the Apple Watch may in future be able to measure blood oxygen levels as part of its health tracking smarts.

For whatever reason, Apple hasn’t officially announced this is a feature or capability of the Watch – iFixit guess that fact is due to complicated legal reasons that may be resolved in future. Whatever the case, it looks as though there is more technological potential than we thought crammed into this beast!

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Could this be an as-yet-unannounced blood oxygen tracker?

To check out the rest of the scandalously revealing photoshoot, along with a complete commentary, be sure to check out the full teardown article. Oh, and for those of you lucky enough to have your own Apple Watch – do we even need to say it? Don’t try this at home.