Samsung took its first, provisional small steps on the way to giving users the ability to repair your devices yourself. These new repair kits are only available for a few select models, and the new parts could still cost a pretty penny.
Tuesday, the company share its new repair kits containing genuine parts in partnership with iFixit. The new kits come with guides and tools like Well, but so far the parts are limited to screens, charging ports and rear glass. Charging ports are $67 overall, while displays are around $230, but likely more depending on the phone model. The glass back of each phone hovers between $70 and $90.
The full list of supported phones includes:
- Galaxy S21 Ultra
- Galaxy S20
- Galaxy S20+
- Galaxy S20 Ultra
- S7+ tab
Of course, this is only a fraction of the cost of a new phone (a new S21 goes for $530 with trade-in, or $850 normally), so given the detailed instructions provided by the folks at iFixIt is definitely a consideration. Repair kits include a return label to send broken parts back to the company, which says they will be recycled.
Samsung announced in March that it was finally jump on the self-repair bandwagonhaving apparently only seen the light when Apple announced last year that it would let users fix some of their iPhones. Samsung has long been reprimanded by the folks at iFixit for its rather sloppy standards on devices like the first Galaxy Folds, so it’s encouraging to see the two team up. The new program is currently limited to the United States, and of course, this new set of repair kits does not include the most updated models like the Galaxy S22, Tab8, Galaxy Note or the Flip/Fold Galaxy Z series.
Apple published its iPhone repair kits in April for third-generation iPhone 12, iPhone 13, and iPhone SE devices. The company has decided for some reason to provide tool rental kits at nearly $50 for a week’s use. At the same time he offers many more parts and tools for its select product lines, including cameras and SIM card trays. Its service has similar prices to Samsung’s, though the iPhone maker’s repair kits may end up costing slightly less thanks to return credits. Other than the free delivery note, Samsung does not offer any credit for its return and recycling services.
At the same time, iFixit has critical Apple’s self-repair program to make it difficult to stock spare parts, which doesn’t impact individual users but hurts mom and pop repair shops.
Although Samsung’s repair options are relatively straightforward compared to Apple’s offerings, it they or they‘re so limited on which parts you can replace is a big sticking point, even with promises of more to come in the future. This is a good first step, but with how long users and government agencies claimed the right to self-repair, Samsung’s efforts seem lackluster.
Other big tech companies are also anticipating the release of their own self-repair services. Google said in April that it would be have parts available for Pixel 2 through Pixel 6 Pro available later this year, and the company promises to have repair options for the UK, Canada and Europe as well as the US Around the same time, Microsoft published a study showing the benefits of self-repair, and promised that he would work towards this end. However, he has has made no public statement about the timing of the release of his own self-repair service.