Samsung has been providing iFixit with genuine parts since at least the S20. Although this is a good first step it came with a huge major caveat:
Screen+battery are only provided as a single assembly. You can't buy them separately.
These are the two most common repairs on a smartphone and to get a simple battery you need to buy the expensive screen.
I am hopeful Samsung redeems themselves this year especially with the introduction of the Fold5 to this program. Otherwise this is nothingburger only meant to appease regulators and legislators
> These are the two most common repairs on a smartphone and to get a simple battery you need to buy the expensive screen.
This is indeed really dumb and it's still the same for the S23 parts which have just been released on the European store https://samsungselfrepair.shop
They're not on iFixit yet for the US but I assume it's the same story.
That's really odd. I worked in samsung parts for a few years. While screen/frame assemblies were very common, the battery was always separate. Batteries generally got stored separately, and shipping requirements also provide some onus to keep them apart.
Particularly after seeing the pull adhesive strips in Pixel/iPhone I thought that would have become the norm.
This is a great move. Google committed to 7 years of parts as well via iFixit.
Of course, paired with the extra long support it now seems like Samsung is also possibly going to subscription models where they force you to pay to not have features taken away, so maybe it won't turn out well. Who knows.
Google only does it for phones though. If you have a watch and you break the screen, their only solution is to just buy a new one. Even though replacement isn't hard. They just don't bother making spare parts available. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/09/11-months-after-laun...
I'm a little disappointed. My S22+ charging port is broken and the part on ifixit is 60$. IIRC the Samsung repair shop quoted me the fix to be 80$. Doesn't really seem like I'm saving enough to justify my labour and potential to break it due to lack of expertise. I highly doubt that component is actually worth 60$
Of course, the pricing is meant to disincentivise you from doing it. Apple is doing the exact same ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwgpTDluufY ). They don't want to enable DIY repair but they do this because they have to in some areas.
I assume this is also the reason they won't just sell you a battery without a screen.
This is great. The main reason people change phone in the last couple years has been for battery degradation and screen breakage. Changing those for many people is not an option because is not really possible to get the same quality parts as OEM afterwards.
Also because of flash memory degradation. You may notice that older devices are slow even after a full factory reset. The memory chips are reaching their limits.
The Z Fold 5 is seriously expensive, so being able to replace a broken part myself could save a ton of cash. Plus, it's gotta be super satisfying to fix something that folds like magic.
I imagine the cost of official parts such as the screens for flagships like the Fold 5 are still going to be very expensive. Even if you need to only replace a simple/cheap part it will likely be a major pain that requires removal of the screens which if you haven't done before could result in you breaking something expensive.
Personally for such delicate devices I would rather pay the difference for someone with the experience and liability to fix it for me.
This is cool, they even have some parts like the buttons and glass in different colours. So you could even use it to pimp your phone (I wouldn't break the waterproofing just for that but if you need to get in there anyway...)
One thing that's annoying though is that with the S23 you need to buy a new screen when you want to change the battery. The battery is only available as a screen+battery kit. Weird.
I mean, when you replace the screen it makes sense to stick a new battery in, sure. Especially because the old battery might be a few years older or have damage from the impact (safety). The other way around, not so much. Why waste a perfectly good screen just to change the battery? This is really dumb and drives the price up. It also causes unnecessary e-waste.
Now, this is in Europe where Samsung have a real parts shop of their own ( https://samsungselfrepair.shop ), I see in the US it's different because it has to go through iFixit somehow. Edit: Nope, iFixit doesn't seem to sell batteries separately either.
I’d definitely recommend LG TVs over Samsung, especially in the mid / high end range. The OS is so much better to use and you don’t get served up ads if you don’t want them.
Samsung should get the memory card slot back. Heck, I still miss easily replaceable battery from Galaxy S5!
In general, I hate how Galaxy S series is just becoming more and more like an iPhone. (Well, other than reasonably long firmware update support. Great job Samsung copying that!)
I used to have both Samsung Galaxy S and iPhone — but now it's just iPhone.
But yeah, DIY repair is great and there I wish Apple would follow in good faith.
They still have models with SD card slots, but they're never coming back to flagships because:
1. so they can milk you on cloud storage or on the expensive variants with more storage
2. access speed difference of UFS 4.0 vs fast SD cards is huge and unacceptable on a flagship that's supposed to compete with iPhones on speed
3. biggest and most important reason I learned from the horses mouth, people used to put the cheapest junkiest "value" SD cards off Amazon in them, which would be slow and negatively impact UX, and would also spontaneously die, taking the customers photos with them, so then the angry customers would blame the phone for both issues("your damn phone ate my photos/sd-card!"), so they had remove it to ensure UX and reliability across the board
The curren iFixit prices even look reasonable. Color me surprised that they seem to actually provide replacements at a reasonable cost and have not mounted a "DIY" program in name only.
It's great, but also a bit sad, that what used to be an industry norm not that long ago (easily accessible repair parts) is now a heavily celebrated news.
Hopefully it's a sign that trends are reverting in the broader industry.
[+] [-] hjk_bear|2 years ago|reply
Screen+battery are only provided as a single assembly. You can't buy them separately.
These are the two most common repairs on a smartphone and to get a simple battery you need to buy the expensive screen.
I am hopeful Samsung redeems themselves this year especially with the introduction of the Fold5 to this program. Otherwise this is nothingburger only meant to appease regulators and legislators
[+] [-] wkat4242|2 years ago|reply
This is indeed really dumb and it's still the same for the S23 parts which have just been released on the European store https://samsungselfrepair.shop
They're not on iFixit yet for the US but I assume it's the same story.
[+] [-] epakai|2 years ago|reply
Particularly after seeing the pull adhesive strips in Pixel/iPhone I thought that would have become the norm.
[+] [-] acquacow|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SketchySeaBeast|2 years ago|reply
Of course, paired with the extra long support it now seems like Samsung is also possibly going to subscription models where they force you to pay to not have features taken away, so maybe it won't turn out well. Who knows.
[+] [-] wkat4242|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rPlayer6554|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wkat4242|2 years ago|reply
I assume this is also the reason they won't just sell you a battery without a screen.
[+] [-] blopp99|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] KRAKRISMOTT|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smg007|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] magixx|2 years ago|reply
Personally for such delicate devices I would rather pay the difference for someone with the experience and liability to fix it for me.
[+] [-] santaz01|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wkat4242|2 years ago|reply
One thing that's annoying though is that with the S23 you need to buy a new screen when you want to change the battery. The battery is only available as a screen+battery kit. Weird.
I mean, when you replace the screen it makes sense to stick a new battery in, sure. Especially because the old battery might be a few years older or have damage from the impact (safety). The other way around, not so much. Why waste a perfectly good screen just to change the battery? This is really dumb and drives the price up. It also causes unnecessary e-waste.
Now, this is in Europe where Samsung have a real parts shop of their own ( https://samsungselfrepair.shop ), I see in the US it's different because it has to go through iFixit somehow. Edit: Nope, iFixit doesn't seem to sell batteries separately either.
[+] [-] gg82|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davidspiess|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smcleod|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stronglikedan|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vardump|2 years ago|reply
In general, I hate how Galaxy S series is just becoming more and more like an iPhone. (Well, other than reasonably long firmware update support. Great job Samsung copying that!)
I used to have both Samsung Galaxy S and iPhone — but now it's just iPhone.
But yeah, DIY repair is great and there I wish Apple would follow in good faith.
[+] [-] FirmwareBurner|2 years ago|reply
They still have models with SD card slots, but they're never coming back to flagships because:
1. so they can milk you on cloud storage or on the expensive variants with more storage
2. access speed difference of UFS 4.0 vs fast SD cards is huge and unacceptable on a flagship that's supposed to compete with iPhones on speed
3. biggest and most important reason I learned from the horses mouth, people used to put the cheapest junkiest "value" SD cards off Amazon in them, which would be slow and negatively impact UX, and would also spontaneously die, taking the customers photos with them, so then the angry customers would blame the phone for both issues("your damn phone ate my photos/sd-card!"), so they had remove it to ensure UX and reliability across the board
[+] [-] poisonborz|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] creole_wither|2 years ago|reply
https://www.samsung.com/us/business/mobile/phones/galaxy-xco...
[+] [-] unknown|2 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] christkv|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] justapassenger|2 years ago|reply
Hopefully it's a sign that trends are reverting in the broader industry.