Samsung lets you fix your own phone if you dare

The push to make at least some of its devices more repairable comes amid a broader national debate over the right to repair the products we buy, fueled largely by increased scrutiny by the Federal Trade Commission since last year. Since then, Apple has launched its own self-service repair program, while Google has partnered with iFixit to offer tools and genuine parts to would-be tinkerers.

But like some of these other self-service programs, Samsung’s approach has a few quirks.

Despite Samsung’s popularity in the United States — according to research firm Strategy Analytics, it accounted for nearly a third of all smartphone shipments in the first half of 2022 — the company’s new self-service repair program is limited to a handful of high-end Models limited at the moment.

Galaxy S20 and S21 series smartphone owners (released in 2020 and 2021 respectively) can purchase replacement screens, back glass, and charging ports for repairs they attempt at home. The same goes for people who own one of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Plus tablets, although that doesn’t apply to the rest of the company’s mobile products.

“We plan to expand the program to other models when it matures,” said a Samsung spokesman.

However, in offering the resources for these repairs, Samsung emphasized its use of designs that make device repairing more confusing than some might expect.

For example, you can’t just buy a screen to replace a broken one in your Galaxy phone. Instead, Samsung says you’ll need to buy a complete screen “assembly” that includes the display itself, the metal frame that surrounds it, and another battery. Essentially, this means replacing the entire front of the phone and then some.

It also means that for the time being Samsung has no way of buying a genuine battery itself to replace the one that hasn’t had a long charge or has become bloated – a common problem with devices that are used and charged regularly. The Samsung spokesperson told the Washington Post that “additional parts will be added as the program ramps up,” though co-founder and CEO Kyle Wiens says iFixit will continue to sell third-party replacement batteries.

These types of self-repair programs are fairly new, so it’s not surprising that they don’t always feel fully fleshed out. And even if they offer a more comprehensive set of replacement parts and instructions, some of the processes involved can seem a bit strange.

For example, let’s say you had an iPhone 12 with a broken screen. You can easily find the spare parts on the company’s self-service website. But if you want to follow every detail in Apple’s repair guide, you’ll need to use a specific set of professional tools — tools that are available for rent but come in a set of heavy-duty Pelican hard cases and require a $1,200 credit card.

(That means you could just buy the part from Apple and open the phone up with tools and guides you’ll find elsewhere.)

So here’s our advice: unless you’ve done this before, or don’t mind following dozens of step guides, you should avoid tackling an at-home phone repair. These types of corrections really benefit from a level of finesse and attention to detail that, shall we say, is not everyone’s forte. And we’re not kidding about how cumbersome these guides can be: according to iFixit, replacing a Galaxy S20’s display assembly requires 41 steps, and that doesn’t include reassembling the phone.

But now we’re left with a bigger question: if these companies are willing to let us repair the products they make, how about designing them to be easier to repair in the first place? At least for now, that’s a lot easier said than done.