ZTE Axon 7 Teardown

ZTE Axon 7 Teardown Guide

Recommended Tools:

Plastic Triangle Opening Tool
Nylon Spudger
SIM Card Ejection Tool
Fine Tip Curved Tweezers
Precision Knife Set
Multi-Purpose Heat Gun
Phillips Screwdriver

Step 1

Power down your ZTE Axon 7 smartphone. 

Step 2 (ZTE Axon 7 SIM and microSD Card Tray)
 
Eject the SIM and microSD Card Tray.
 
Step 3 (ZTE Axon 7 Rear Case)
 
Apply heat to the speaker grills located at the top and bottom of the ZTE phone.
 
Insert the precision knife underneath the top grill and create enough space to fit a triangle tool.
 
Work the triangle tool under the grill and remove it from the Axon 7.
 
Now turn your attention to the speaker grill at the bottom of the device. Use the precision knife and triangle tool to extricate the grill.
 
Remove the following 6 Phillips screws.
 
Again, use the precision knife to create space and insert a triangle tool.
 
Release the clips and pop the ZTE Axon 7 out of its rear case.
 
The fingerprint reader cable is still connected to the motherboard, so don’t try to remove it entirely just yet.
 
Detach the connector and separate the phone from its aluminum full metal enclosure.
 
Step 4 (ZTE Axon 7 Fingerprint Reader and Flash Cable)
 
Carefully peel up the black tape from the Axon 7’s rear case.
 
Separate the Axon 7 ‘s intuitively placed pointer finger scanner and the flash cable from the tape.
 
Step 5 (ZTE Axon 7 Battery)
 
Remove the following Phillips screw securing the metal bracket covering the battery connector and interconnect cable.
 
With the bracket out of the way, disconnect the ZTE Axon 7 battery from the motherboard.
 
Remove the following 2 Phillips screws and then the metal bracket.
 
Detach and remove the Axon 7 interconnect cable.
 
The Axon 7 battery is well wedged and adhered in place. Use a combination of the triangle tool and spudger to carefully free it from the adhesive securing it to the midframe.
 
Lift out the 3250 milliampere-hour (mAh) Axon 7 battery.
 
Step 6 (ZTE Axon 7 Motherboard)
 
Remove the following 4 Phillips screws.
 
Spudge up the display connector and power and volume buttons cable.
 
Lift up the Axon 7’s motherboard and detach the connector on its underside, then extract it from the phone.
 
Step 7 (ZTE Axon 7 Rear-Facing Camera and Front-Facing Camera)
 
Disconnect and pluck out the 20-megapixel ZTE Axon 7 rear-facing camera.
 
Detach and remove the 8-megapixel Axon 7 front-facing selfie camera.
 
Step 8 (ZTE Axon 7 Earpiece Speaker)
 
Use the tweezers to pry the Axon 7’s stereo-enabling earpiece speaker out of the chassis.
 
Step 9 (ZTE Axon 7 Daughterboard/USB-C Port, Vibrator, and Loudspeaker)
 
Remove the following 3 Phillips screws.
 
Disconnect the signal cable from the daughterboard.
 
With a little spudgering the Axon 7 daughterboard is free. It includes the USB-C port and primary microphone.
 
Use the tweezers to help remove the spring-contact-connected vibrator and ZTE Axon 7 loudspeaker.
 
Step 10 (ZTE Axon 7 Power and Volume Buttons Cable)
 
The last component to surrender is the power and volume buttons cable.
 
Step 11 (ZTE Axon 7 Display Assembly and Home Button)
 
Begin too free the Axon 7 display assembly by using a heat gun to soften the adhesive securing it to the midframe.
 
Use a plastic triangle tool to attack the adhesive. Take your time and apply additional heat as needed.
 
Once you have sliced through the adhesive, be mindful of the display cable when decoupling the ZTE Axon 7 screen from the midframe.
 
 
* To reassemble your device, follow the steps in reverse order.