David Hanak Even the iPhone XR did not escape a thorough examination by iFixit technicians. At the end of last week, they published a detailed description of what is under the hood of this year's latest iPhone series. As it turns out, the iPhone XR looks more like older iPhones on the inside, especially the iPhone 8.
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Dan Pražák The key to disassembly is the traditional pentalobe screws that Apple has used in iPhones for several generations. After removing them, a view of the internal layout of the phone appears, which resembles the iPhone 8 or iPhone X. Vs current iPhone XS there are a few major differences that can be noticed at first glance.
In particular, it is a battery that has a classic rectangular shape and a capacity of 11,16 Wh - the battery in the iPhone XS has a capacity of 10,13, the battery from the XS Max model has a capacity of 12,08 Wh. Even so, the iPhone XR has the best durability of the above. The double sided motherboard is also similar.
On the other hand, the novelty is the innovative SIM card slot, which is newly modular and therefore much easier to replace in the event of damage. Since it is not connected to the motherboard, it also reduces the cost of replacing it. It's also positioned a bit lower than usual for iPhones.
Another interesting thing is that the iPhone XR should be just as well sealed as the more expensive iPhone XS, despite the fact that the cheaper model offers a worse degree of IP-67 protection on paper.
Compared to more expensive models, we can find here the same Taptic Engine (which takes care of Haptic Touch response), the Face ID module with True Depth camera, copper disk for wireless charging and other internal components, such as the processor, etc., are completely identical.
Probably the biggest difference is the display. The iPhone XR LCD display is 0,3″ larger than the iPhone XS OLED display. Due to the display technology, however, the entire structure is significantly thicker and heavier - the LCD display requires a separate backlight, while in the case of the OLED panel, the pixels themselves take care of the backlight.
As far as the difficulty of repairs is concerned, the new cheaper iPhone is not bad at all. Replacing the display is relatively easy, but you still have to take into account the phone's proprietary screws and seals, which are destroyed by disassembly. You can find detailed images and a description of the entire process at the link below.
Source: iFixit
the modular SIM card slot is there because in the Chinese market you only need to replace this part and you have dualsim, and possibly remove it and you only have eSIM. That is, three different configurations per one component.