The brand new Samsung Galaxy S21 phones include noticeable modifications, like a lack of a charger within the field and no microSD card slot, elevating the ire of some Samsung followers.
Good news, though: Galaxy S21 modifications on the within could win it some favor with restore retailers and DIY customers. Tech channel PBKreviews simply gave the Galaxy S21 a surprisingly favorable rating for repairability.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 teardown proved moderately fast and pain-free. The again panel got here off in a single piece (nothing broke) with a pry instrument after making use of warmth, and most of the elements inside had been as easy to take aside as eradicating a couple of screws and disconnecting a versatile ribbon cable right here and there.
With the backplate eliminated there are simply 22 Philips screws holding most issues in place – that’s proper, nothing overly unique to unscrew. Even eradicating the backplate you might use a hair dryer moderately than a devoted heating machine, based on PBKreviews.
From one teardown to another
It is onerous to make a direct comparability to the reparability of different units as PBKreviews hasn’t included numeric ranking on all of its reviews. It provided a 7.5/10 repairability for the Galaxy S21. Watching the disassembly of the same Galaxy S20 FE, it appeared the prior cellphone was easier to take aside in some regard (especially the camera modules), however there was no specific rating to match.
Although too much weight should not be put into evaluating scores from completely different sources on completely different units, the Galaxy S20 Ultra only earned a rating of 3/10 from iFixit for repairability. So, maybe Samsung is making a greater effort to design repairable devices and minimize down on merchandise going into landfills, an eco-friendly effort that would line up with its exclusion of a charging brick with the phones.
Not every little thing was so easy to disassemble, though. Of observe had been the front-facing digital camera, under-display fingerprint reader, and the battery – all of which had been connected or glued into place.
Nonetheless, simplified repairability is a constructive factor to see on a smartphone that’s likely to discover its method into many pockets this year.