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First iPhone 6s teardown reveals smaller battery, tightly packed components [u]

Hours after Apple's iPhone 6s and 6s Plus went on sale in launch countries New Zealand and Australia, the team at iFixit tore into the new device to reveal an expectedly smaller battery and a slightly reworked internal layout.

While a full teardown has yet to be published online, iFixit is posting pictures of the process on Twitter. With a chassis design only slightly tweaked from last year's model, iPhone 6s contains only a few internal changes to make room for a larger Taptic Engine vibration mechanism and 3D Touch-enabled display.

So far, photos have revealed a 1,715 mAh battery, down from the 1,810 mAh cell found in iPhone 6. The drop in overall charge capacity shouldn't impact running time thanks to more efficient silicon like the A9 processor and embedded M9 motion coprocessor.

Other enhancements for this year's "s" update include a 12MP iSight camera with 4K video capability (and optical image stabilization applied to both still and video footage on 6s Plus), a 5MP FaceTime shooter with Retina flash, faster Touch ID module, faster LTE and Wi-Fi connectivity, stronger cover glass, a frame made from 7000 series aluminum and a new rose gold color. The hardware enables advanced iOS 9 functions like always-on Siri, Live Photos and more.

Apple's iPhone 6s is rolling out worldwide on Friday, with preorder shipments already arriving at houses and brick-and-mortar Apple Stores in New Zealand and Australia. Apple exhausted launch day preorder supply on Monday, meaning the only way to get a unit on Friday is to visit a company store or authorized reseller.

Update: iFixit has posted ongoing progress of the teardown to its website.