Although there is no (known) official standard naming scheme, the size is commonly known as P-sizes. TS-sizes are sometimes used, but leave room for mixing up with regular Torx sizes. The following P and TS sizes are used by iFixit.com, and PL sizes by Wiha, a German tool company: The iPhone 4 has one of the smallest screw heads we’ve seen, probably for cosmetic reasons. This 5-point Pentalobe screw is actually slightly smaller than a Torx T1. Yowsers that’s tiny. The shape looks a little rough because this tiny screw is giving Apple’s manufacturing process a run for its money. Current MacBook Air Fortunately, our always-creative hardware acquisition team has been on this problem for a while. It’s our responsibility to provide you with all the tools you need to work on electronics, and we have a solution for you! iPhone 4 Like Huawei P9, Meizu MX9 also uses the pentalobe screw next to the USB-C connector. [13] Sizes and measurements [ edit ]

All iPhone 4S models contain identical pentalobe screws to those found on the iPhone 4. The iPhone 5 has very similar 0.8mm pentalobe screws, but the screws have longer 3.6mm shafts. [11] Non-Apple manufacturers [ edit ] The new Air uses a significantly smaller 5-point screw than the MacBook Pro, but it’s still larger than the one in the iPhone 4.Kaneshige, Tome (January 20, 2011). "The Case of Apple's Mystery Screw". International Data Group. Archived from the original on January 18, 2012 . Retrieved January 28, 2012. When I was a kid, I begged my dad to let me help him with his weekend projects. I’d follow him around with a flashlight in one hand, his toolbox in the other. We sang Simon and Garfunkel’s “ Cecilia” in perfect harmony while we worked. Whenever he tasked me to shine my flashlight on something for further investigation, I felt like the chosen one. And when he’d ask me for a screwdriver, I’d reply: “ Phillips or flathead?” Foresman, Chris (January 20, 2011). "Apple 'screwing' new iPhones out of simple DIY repair". Ars Technica . Retrieved January 28, 2012. The MacBook Air has seen more extensive use of pentalobe screws than the MacBook Pro. All five versions of the 11-inch MacBook Air ( late-2010, mid-2011, mid-2012, mid-2013 and early-2014) include eight 2.5mm-long and two 8mm-long external pentalobe screws. [7] The last five versions of the 13-inch MacBook Air (late-2010, mid-2011, mid-2012, mid-2013 and early-2014) use eight 2.6mm-long and two 9mm-long pentalobe screws. [8] Pentalobe screws have been used only externally on MacBook Air models. Third-party manufacturers have marketed a variety of 5-point screwdrivers that fit pentalobe screws on MacBook models since pentalobe screws first appeared externally in the late-2010 MacBook Air.

Apple is switching to a new type of tamper-resistant screw. This is not a standard Torx, and there are no readily available screwdrivers that can remove it. This isn’t the first time they’ve used this type of screw—it first appeared in the mid-2009 MacBook Pro to prevent you from replacing the battery—and Apple is using a similar screw on the outer case of the current MacBook Air. This screw is the primary reason the 11″ MacBook Air earned a lousy repairability score of 4 out of 10 in our teardown last October.I immediately noticed something odd about the Japanese phones: they had different screws on the bottom! These new screws looked like very small Torx (I guessed T3 at the time) but were actually something far more insidious. An Evil Ascending Sony used 5-point pentalobe screws (though mostly simply referred as 'star shaped' screws pre-dating the currently accepted name) on its Sony CLIÉ UX Series PDAs in 2003. It’s similar to a Torx—except that the points have a rounder shape, and it has five points instead of six. Apple’s service manuals refer to them as “Pentalobular” screws, which is a descriptive enough term. It’s certainly better than what I came up with, which was “Evil Proprietary Tamper Proof Five Point Screw.” It’s best I stay out of the naming business.

Pentalobe screw sizes include TS1 (0.8mm, used on every iPhone starting with the iPhone 4), TS4 (1.2mm, used on the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro with Retina display), and TS5 (1.5mm, used on the 2009 MacBook Pro battery). The TS designation is ambiguous as it is also used for the Torq-set screw drive. Making things worse, Apple has used three different sizes of this screw head so far. Here’s the rundown: Mid-2009 MacBook Pro Goldberg, Andrew. "Installing iPhone 5 Battery". Repair Guide. ifixit.com . Retrieved January 28, 2012. The pentalobe will always be associated with Apple. But recently, other manufacturers have piled on the five-point-screw bandwagon, too. A couple years ago, we spotted our first set of pentalobe screws outside of Apple’s ecosystem—first in Huawei’s P9 and then again in Meizu’s MX6. With no real functional reason for choosing this screw, I can only assume it’s to look more like Apple’s most popular devices. A rose-gold iPhone sits atop the Huawei P9—both featuring Pentalobe screws. Meizu’s MX6 (the silver one) sits in between two iPhones. From this vantage point, the three phones are almost indistinguishable—right down to the pentalobe screws.

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Pentalobe screws reappeared in the mid-2012 version of the MacBook Pro. Eight 3mm and two 2.3mm pentalobe screws were used externally to attach the bottom plate of the case to the internal frame. [5] The late-2012 version of the 13-inch MacBook Pro was the first 13-inch model to have pentalobe screws; several were used externally in a similar fashion to the 15-inch mid-2012 MacBook Pro. [6] None of the three 17-inch models of the MacBook Pro have used any pentalobe screws. These pentalobe, 5 point heads are not to be confused with Torx heads which have 6 points. A "IPR" designation identical to "PL" is sometimes seen due to the confusion. It is possible that ambiguous "TS" nomenclature is the same as the "PL" designation when referring to Pentalobe screws.