Samsung Galaxy S10 lineup repair will be expensive and quite difficult, reveals iFixit teardownA teardown of the newly launched Samsung Galaxy S10 series by popular website iFixit, has revealed that the phones are very difficult to repair. According to iFixit’s conclusions, the battery on the Galaxy S10, S10 + and S10e is glued in and this makes it difficult to replace.
iFixit gave all three S10 devices traditional teardown treatment and gave a repairability score of three out of 10, which is a very low-score for the Samsung devices. Last year, Galaxy S9 received a repairability of score of four out of 10 along with Google Pixel 3 and Huawei Mate 20 Pro. The OnePlus 6T got five out of 10 on iFixit’s repairability score.
Watch: Galaxy S10+ review
iFixit used Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10e for the step-by-step photo teardown. They did a video teardown of Galaxy S10+ but since the device is almost identical to Galaxy S10 on the hardware level so these two devices are clubbed together.
The battery of the Galaxy S10 and S10e was found glued so iFixit found it rather difficult to remove. However, the front camera of the devices was easy to pluck out as it peeks through Samsung’s Infinity-O (punch-hole) display.
They also noted how Samsung’s feature of Wireless Power sharing with other devices, generates a lot of heat and might not be great for battery life either.
iFixit also says that while the displays of the S10+, S10 and S10e are nifty, “replacements will still be pricey and difficult.” While the fingerprint sensor on the Galaxy S10e is mounted on the side, the Galaxy S10 has an in-display fingerprint sensor.
The teardown reveals that the new ultrasonic fingerprint sensor on Galaxy S10 has been built into the front display. According to iFixit, there is no way to take the sensor off the S10’s display without breaking it.
The iFixit teardown has also shed more light on the new camera hole as well, which Samsung has punched into the display. The Galaxy S10 series has the newer ‘Infinity-O’ display as Samsung calls it, which has a hole for the front camera.
Also read | Samsung Galaxy S10+ review: Benchmark for Android flagship
According to iFixit, the camera hole has been “carved away ‘pixel by pixel’ by a laser,” and it runs “through both midframe and motherboard back to the camera itself.” It also appears that the proximity and fingerprint sensor, which are hidden to the regular user can see “directly through the OLED matrix.”
Samsung officially announced the Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+ and Galaxy S10e in India yesterday. The prices start at Rs 55,900 for the 128GB variant of the S10e, Rs 66,900 for the 128GB version for the S10 and Rs 73,900 for the 128 GB version of the S10 Plus.
