The Nexus 9 is beginning to hit the hands of buyers after launching a few weeks ago, complete with powerful hardware like Nvidia's new 64-bit Tegra K1 SoC. But what's underneath the back cover of Google's latest tablet? iFixit has you covered, having torn down their own Nexus 9 just recently.
Like most tablets, the majority of the internal space is occupied by the 25.46 Wh (6,700 mAh) battery, which iFixit notes is held down to the case with some fairly strong glue. Around the edges are most of the critical components, including the aforementioned Tegra K1 SoC, 2 GB of RAM manufactured by Elpida/Micron, and 16 GB of Samsung-made NAND.
Tucked away in crevices, iFixit found other stuff like the speaker boxes, which they described as "low-volume earpiece speakers". There are also several ribbon cables connecting the Nexus 9's various ports and sensors, including a fairly large vibrator in one corner of the tablet.
iFixit also notes that the display itself is very strongly glued to the display assembly, which makes replacement of a cracked screen difficult. Overall, iFixit gives the tablet a repairability score of 3 out of 10, also citing many thin, delicate cables that might make reassembly a tricky proposal.
Despite its low score, the Nexus 9 is one of the more repairable tablets on the market. iFixit scored both the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 lower than the Nexus 9 on the repairability scale, with Microsof's Surface Pro 3 fairing the worst of all thanks to ridiculous amounts of internal glue.