AOP is always-on processor, the A7/M7 stuff that handles sensor data without waking the big cores in the SoC.

The 8897 is for wifi and the 8782u is for controller. It has NO Bluetooth feature, Xbox One wireless controller is based on custom wifi protocol.

Is this the same bottom cover as the AirPort 802.11ac?

This is freely replaceable, no special lockdown present.

To be honest I don’t this is “almost impossible to replace. It is literally right in the center once your take off the screen.

Also it doesn’t seem to cause the device to brick either. Most of the time you get inaccurate clock whenever you unplug the computer from power and that’s it.

Probably not for redundancy, but for capacity.

CR2032 is too thick for this model, so they used 2 CR2016s instead, more or less the same thing.

Those are likely to be hardware debug leftovers, or devkit leftovers. Extra hardware features are needed for game developer kits, like a CMOS battery, extra buttons and displays for example.

Xs has 4 antennas, while the XR only has 2.

Easy, you are supposed to desolder the battery and the dock flex first, remove the logic board then access the battery.

Look at the CPU heat spreader, it is much thicker than previous models, is it possible that this is some kind of mini flat heat pipe?