iPhone 15 Pro Max CPU Swap – Data Recovery After Shop Damage
- Aaron Harrington
- 19 hours ago
- 5 min read
100% Data Recovered from a “Destroyed” Board
Device: iPhone 15 Pro Max
Issue: No power after another repair shop attempt
Goal: Photos, videos, messages — data only (phone itself didn’t matter)
👉 Watch the full repair on YouTube (with comments & chapters):https://youtu.be/vcve1loVg24
Background – When “Learning” Happens on a Customer’s Only Copy of Their Life
This iPhone 15 Pro Max came into my lab after another repair shop had already taken a shot at it.
The customer was told some version of:
“The motherboard is dead. It’s not fixable.”
When I opened it, it was obvious what happened: the board had been absolutely cooked. There was:
Solder paste smeared around the board
Crooked components
Flux everywhere
Solder balls literally popping out of the PMIC (power management chip)
I understand that newer techs want to learn board repair and data recovery. But a customer’s critical data board is not the place to practice. Once a board gets this overheated, “standard” repair is usually off the table.
For this customer, the only realistic way forward was an advanced CPU, NAND, EEPROM — and in this case NFC — transplant to a known-good donor board.
Step 1 – Diagnosis & Main Short on the Bench
[00:01:00–00:02:35]
Even though the board looked terrible, I still wanted to see what it was doing electrically.
I hooked the damaged logic board to my DC power supply.
The moment I probed the connector, it went straight into a main short.
With:
Severe visible heat damage, and
A hard short on the main power lines
…it didn’t make sense to chase individual components. At that point, the safest way to protect the data was to treat the board itself as a donor for the CPU, NAND, and Logic EEPROM only.
Decision: Full CPU swap data recovery.
Step 2 – Layer Split & Chip Extraction
[00:02:39–00:24:29]
On the 15 Pro Max, the logic board is a sandwich. I split the layers to get down to the data board where the CPU and memory live.
CPU Removal
Carefully removed underfill around the CPU perimeter.
Despite the abuse, I didn’t see a ton of solder balls popping from under the CPU itself (good sign).
Lifted the CPU cleanly and cleaned off remaining underfill.
NAND Removal
Pulled the main NAND memory chip.
Underfill on this chip was very stubborn, but with enough patience I was able to remove it safely and prep the pads.
At this point, I had the three critical chips on the bench:CPU, NAND, and Logic EEPROM.
Step 3 – Precision Reballing
[00:08:00–00:31:20]
You can’t just move these chips over; they need to be perfectly reballed.
CPU Reball
Reworked the old solder off the CPU pads using low-melt solder.
Used a magnetic stencil and 183°C paste.
I like to apply a bit of heat first to push some of the flux out, pat it dry, and then fully fill the stencil.
Reflowed to form clean, shiny, even balls across the whole CPU.
NAND Reball
Same process for the NAND: clean, prep, stencil, paste, reflow.
End result: CPU and NAND both ready to drop onto a known-good donor.
Step 4 – Donor Board Prep & NFC Quirk on the 15 Series
[00:31:28–00:57:01]
Next up was the donor board — a known-good 15 Pro Max logic board I’ve used before.
Donor Board Preparation
Cleaned the CPU and NAND areas.
Flattened and tinned the pads where the new chips would land.
Because the underfill was already removed from previous use, cleanup was faster.
You might notice in the video that the NAND chip from the original board is a different physical size than the outline on the donor. That’s normal:
The iPhone 15 Pro series uses two different NAND package sizes.Electrically, they’re cross-compatible.
Baseline Check: DC Power Supply Draw
Before placing anything, I want to know what the bare donor board is doing:
On the bench, the prepped donor pulls ~0.029A.
That’s exactly what I like to see as a healthy baseline for the power rails with no CPU/NAND installed.
Transplant Sequence
Logic EEPROM moved over (pulled clean, no reball required).
NAND transplanted.
CPU transplanted and aligned.
NFC Transfer – The 15 Series Gotcha
On older models, you can sometimes leave the NFC chip behind and still get a boot. On the 15 series, I’ve seen a rare quirk:
If you don’t transfer the original NFC chip, the phone may hang on the Apple logo and require an update.
To prevent that boot loop, I also moved the NFC chip from the original data board to the donor.
The Result – Dead Phone to Fully Recovered Data
After all the work, I let everything cool down and gave the board a final clean.
Then:
Connected battery, screen, and charge port.
Plugged it in — Apple logo right away.
It went straight to the lock screen with normal behavior.
I entered the passcode, and all photos, videos, and messages were there.
✅ Final outcome: 100% of the customer’s data recoveredThe phone itself? Still technically a franken-phone after all this, but the goal was achieved: save the data.
Nerd Corner – Notes for Technicians & Shops
If you’re doing board-level work on the 15 Pro/Pro Max, here are the key takeaways from this case:
Initial Presentation
Severe heat damage from a previous shop
Crooked components, over-fluxing, PMIC with solder balls bridged/popping
Immediate main short on DCPS when probed
Solder / Reball Setup
CPU + NAND reballed with magnetic stencil
183°C “mid-level” paste
Low-melt used to clear old solder on pads first
NAND Physical Sizes
iPhone 15 Pro / Pro Max use two physical NAND package sizes
Pads are laid out so either package works electrically
Donor Board Baseline
Prepped, bare donor board (no CPU/NAND) pulling ~0.029A on DC power supply
Good sanity check before you commit to a full transplant
NFC / Boot Behavior on the 15 Series
Skipping NFC transfer can cause a boot hang on the Apple logo until an update
Transferring the original NFC avoids that issue and gives a clean first boot
Common Questions from Customers
“Another shop said my iPhone 15 Pro Max motherboard is not repairable. Is my data gone?”Not necessarily. If the board is physically intact enough to harvest the CPU, NAND, and associated chips, it’s often still possible to transplant those to a donor board and access your data. That’s the type of work I do every day.
“Why is my iPhone 15 Pro Max stuck on the Apple logo after a repair?”On the 15 series, if certain chips (like NFC, EEPROM, or NAND) don’t match what the CPU expects, the phone can get stuck on the Apple logo or try to update and fail. That typically needs board-level troubleshooting, not just “replace the screen” or “try a restore.”
“Do you accept mail-in data recovery jobs?”Yes. I run a dedicated iPhone data recovery lab and accept mail-in cases from all over the United States — especially phones that:
Have no power
Were damaged by another repair attempt
Were told “the motherboard is not repairable”
Start Your Mail-In Data Recovery
If you’re in this situation — dead iPhone 15 Pro / Pro Max, no power, Apple logo loop, or “unrepairable” after another shop — here’s how to start:
Visit my website: iboardrepair.com
Fill out the mail-in data recovery form with your device details.
Ship your phone to the lab using the instructions you’ll receive by email.
Once your data is recovered, I return it on a secure backup drive.
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