iFixit is breaking up with Samsung. ‘Samsung’s approach to repairability does not align with our mission,’ says iFixit’s CEO.
iFixit is breaking up with Samsung. ‘Samsung’s approach to repairability does not align with our mission,’ says iFixit’s CEO.
“Samsung does not seem interested in enabling repair at scale.”
- iFixit and Samsung are ending their partnership on a direct-to-consumer phone repair program.
- iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens says "Samsung does not seem interested in enabling repair at scale" and that the deal is not working due to high parts prices and difficulty of repairs.
- Samsung only ships batteries pre-glued to the phone screen, forcing customers to pay over $160 even for just a battery replacement, unlike with other vendors.
- The contract also limited iFixit to selling no more than 7 parts per customer in a 3-month period, hampering their ability to support local repair shops.
- Additionally, Samsung required iFixit to share customer email addresses and purchase history, which iFixit does not do with other partners.
- iFixit says it will continue to stock aftermarket Samsung parts and publish repair guides, but will no longer work directly with Samsung on official repair manuals.
iFixit says:
We clearly didn’t learn our lesson the first time, and let them convince us they were serious about embracing repair.
We tried to make this work. Gosh, we tried. But with such divergent priorities, we’re no longer able to proceed.
Evil megacorp declines to be less evil, news at 11
I have to admit, Samsung have some great things in terms of hardware, but this is not one of them - and their anti-consumer practices will continue to keep me away from the brand.
Yeah they have some cool gadgets and designs, but this kind of shit + the software side has always kept me away from the brand
that's fine but the number of people on the globe who refuse to buy from them is literally a rounding error
There isn't really a lot of options for a premium products.
Phones for example, sure they're all repairable phones but they're cheap low-end models, there's nothing in the high-end market.
You've basically got Samsung and Google and then if you're prepared to go with iOS Apple, but none of them are any better than Samsung.
Xiaomi phones are repairable in my experience, but they aren't reliable enough to be used long term (except older models).
Apple consistently has better hardware if you're willing to nuke iOS, and slap on an actual version of Linux, or hell, even Windows runs better on Apple hardware in my experience.
It's just getting it on there that's more than a bit dodgy
Did they really say, "We tried to make this work. Gosh, we tried."?
Well, golly.
So, at this point it is cheaper to change iPhone battery in Apple Store. Wow.
This article is primarily about Samsung, but yes, there is a brief mention of iFix its battery prices, which are $50.
Apple charges $99 for a battery swap on a new phone. Component + labor.
If you're technically inclined, you buy a Samsung phone only once.
But in my defense, the Galaxy S3 is legendary up to this day. They didn't got better since then.
I had the original Galaxy Note and loved it. Then I went to oneplus one and loved it. Then I went Nexus 6 and liked it enough. Then I got the first Pixel.
I've been pixels ever since. But there was a deal on the Galaxy flip5, $0 up front, $300 over 2 years. I couldn't pass it up, for the novelty if nothing else.
There's a lot I like about this phone, but a lot more that I don't. I'm looking forward to going back to Pixel when I can.
This phone is missing so many standard features, and so many others are locked behind Samsungs walled garden that I refuse to sign up for. It's just a mess. I'm frequently frustrated.
I think s10 might have been peak.
yes, i got the s10e and wanted the standard s10, but both were unlockable (fuck samsung, snapdragon and american isps), i haven't used or seen a better device around me since
I love the displays they put into cheap phones, but other than that they charge too much a premium for features that now should be standard such as fast and/or wireless charging
This is exactly it. I owned an S3 and used it for many years, it was reliable. Assuming it would be of similar quality, I eventually upgraded to an (at that point) already outdated S5. It did not last as long. I've been using a Google pixel ever since.
Samsung phones have some of the best features like the S Pen and Dex which turns your phone into a computer if you connect it to a TV/monitor. Samsung's marketing is bad and doesn't really tell you all the features it has.
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There's not really a lot of options out there. Can't say I agree with Samsung's policies but their devices are pretty good compared to everyone else. iPhones are well, if you'd consider an iPhone then we wouldn't be in this conversation. Chinese brands generally have very problematic software, Pixels are pretty barebones unless you're into the AI stuff (Material 3 is also pretty ugly), Sony is very expensive and fairly barebones too.
This why the "technically inclined", as long as the device has some community support.
S4 Mini.
CMM
If you kept it long enough... The last update made it unusably slow, was the only phone I ever destroyed and sent for recycling as there was no way I could sell that thing to someone.
Also last Samsung phone I ever bought for that reason. Actually could be the last Samsung anything I nought come to think of it
Man, I'm glad I bought a Murena Fairphone.
I am 1000% asking Lemmy where to buy my next phone. It'll take some setup but Stallman will be proud.
I don't think Stallman would be proud of anything Android, and certainly not something that the user can't update outside of the manufacturer updates. Pretty much everything has a locked down BIOS, and you can't really modify the OS yourself.
I'm using a Pixel (bad) with GrapheneOS (good), so I think Stallman would be a little happier, but he'd probably still prefer something like a Pinephone, which I think has a project to open up the modem.
I always hated Samsung for their shitty business practices, and the way they dealt with their customers in terms of device repairability
So if I were to order a battery replacement part from Samsung would it already be paired with a screen? Or could it be future proofed with a bit of DIY engineering? Cause I love my S22 Ultra, and am tired of upgrading every 2-4 years because the battery starts holding less and less charge.
Some newer phones allow you to stop charging at 80% which will essentially extend the life of your battery for as many years as you want it.
Settings->battery->stop charging at 80%
I get a full day out of 80% and I'm nearly always near a charging source so I use it and haven't found any issues with it.
I am pretty sure this only showed up in Android 14 for me. OnePlus phone.
I think it's more if you want to replace one you have to replace both, and if you don't glue the battery to the screen the phone will fall apart, that's what I'd do if I was an evil corporation and wanted customers to buy a new phone instead of repairing
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Two years after they teamed up on one of the first direct-to-consumer phone repair programs, iFixit CEO and co-founder Kyle Wiens tells The Verge the two companies have failed to renegotiate a contract — and says Samsung is to blame.
“Samsung does not seem interested in enabling repair at scale,” Wiens tells me, even though similar deals are going well with Google, Motorola, and HMD.
Instead of being Samsung's partner on genuine parts and approved repair manuals, iFixit will simply go it alone, the same way it's always done with Apple's iPhones.
(While Samsung did add the S23, Z Flip 5, and Z Fold 5 to its self-repair program in December, that was with a different provider, Encompass; iFixit says it was left out.)
Some of those guides also mention a Samsung Self Repair Assistant app, which is weirdly not available in either Google Play or the Galaxy Store and has to be sideloaded in the US.
We can’t comment further on partnership details at this time,” reads part of a statement from Samsung head of mobile customer care Mario Renato De Castro to The Verge.
The original article contains 748 words, the summary contains 186 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Changed my phone last December.. increasingly glad it wasn't a Samsung.
Out of curiosity, what did you buy?
Motorola G73. Fits well with my needs (no mobile gaming, not a lot of social media), good battery, great screen even if it's not amoled. Got it under 200€, a good deal IMO. Little regrets learning, afterward, that Motorola now is Lenovo and is supposedly hard to root/change rom, will have to research.
Samsung has always been garbage, and they've tricked you into thinking they're premium just like Apple does. My $2000 Samsung TV from 2016 suddenly had serious light bleed at the 2-year mark. Turns out on the forums, lots of people complained about that model having light bleed at the two-year mark. The support forums morons refused to do refunds. My Samsung remote stopped working properly until I reinsert the batteries. Samsung folding phones break from folding, Samsung batteries explode, Samsung products are cheap garbage made to break that try to sell you on a single "cutting edge" feature. Samsung is planned obsolescence. Don't buy Samsung.
Isn't iFixit an Apple authorized repair center? Tf they breaking up with Samsung for when they're just copying what apples been doing.
I do not believe iFix it is an Apple authorized repair center. They do not sell “genuine” OEM Apple parts.
Yeah there’s only one place to buy genuine apple parts, and when you get to that site, it feels sketchy, and I think that’s intentional
https://selfservicerepair.com/home
It feels like a pop up alibaba shop, but that is truly the only place to legally buy genuine Apple OEM parts
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All this Samsung hate.
Tell me which phone to buy. Plot twist:
- no fucking apple because the company and their phone keyboards enrage me
- no Samsung now
- no huawei or similar Chinese spyware
Bonus
- really great camera
- good photosphere software. (Clarify: it's a panoramic with up and down as well so it makes a sphere around the photog almost)
- imap, ical, smtptls (basic, I know)
- 3.5mm jack
Don't use it as a phone but as a tablet so I don't care about
- phone
- SMS
- iMessage, naturally
Okay, confidently smart people. Go!
--..
Edit: I love how asking a question gets downvotes. Thanks people!
Motorola and Nokia have phones with 3.5mm jack, and they come with pretty clean Android, without a bunch of bloat, aggressive task killers and whatnot. Though I can't speak for camera, photosphere or repairability.
Pixels are good in some ways, but of course, those don't come with a 3.5mm jack.
Happy with my g84. $350AU
Dual sim Oled Headphone socket SD card option Fast charging Stereo speakers Call recorder 5g
Only gripes Camera not great Volume jumps from moderate to loud Leaving the camera app too soon after taking a picture in suboptimal lighting will lose the photo.
Edit: ok voyager, what did you do with my carriage returns?
No one's saying don't buy Samsung. I noticed your list of requirements didn't include great repairability, which this article and comments are about
Yeah, the selection kinda sucks.
I went with Pixel 8 because:
- can be flashed with another Android OS - I went with GrapheneOS
- 6.5 years of Android updates (no word on security updates)
- fancy new memory tagging feature for security - maybe I'll feel confident using it after it gets updates
- great screen
- probably more repairable? A quick search found a battery replacement for an okay price ($50?)
But none of that is on your list. I don't care about the camera (though it does have arguably the best camera on the market), and pretty much any software can do ical/IMAP/smtptls. I don't know what "photosphere" is (again, don't care about the camera), but I'm guessing Pixel does it or something similar. It even has fun AI crap to play with (I use GrapheneOS, so I'm not getting any of that).
The only thing missing here is the 3.5mm jack, and requiring that is going to limit your options significantly. If you can budge on that (e.g. get a dongle or BT headphones), Pixel could work for you. There might even be a case that provides one, IDK.
I don't know what "photosphere" is (again, don't care about the camera)
It's amazing, IMHO. It's the difference between a pan shot and street view (ie, look up as well).
I'm only going to see a few amazing things given the opportunities available to someone like me even with our economic mobility, but I love going back and revisiting the things I've seen in detail. The cliffs of Ronda or the ceiling of the old bath houses below it, the view from the central hotel in Reykjavik or the shared rooftop patio in my old apartment; or date-stamped pics of that apartment so the landlord can't say we hosed the trim in the second bedroom. These are things I love to go back to and spot new details I missed at the time but are interesting or important later, and I have a massive collection of such treasures.
I won't be back to the natural history museum near the Atlanta zoo and its phenomenal dinosaur skeleton, as I don't get to fly except for work and that job's done, but I forgot until I looked again that they assembled small skeletons of winged dinosaurs as part of it: I blanked on that until I reviewed it years later, for instance.
Photospheres are a thing that, once you realize the dimension they add to a good panoramic memento, you just can't do without, IMHO.
Hope you see it too!
-..
Xiaomi phones, if you unlock the bootloader and install a custom rom.
Too much fuss about nothing. Samsung just want to be sure that they aren't getting ripped off on warranty repairs and that they have an accurate idea of the devices repair history. Especially with 4 - 7 years OS support on new models, that phone will likely belong to several owners over the years.
When I worked in Telecoms back in 2005 - 2008, Samsung had the very best repair centres. Out of all the OEM's their repairs were the fastest and the best quality and if a phone went in for repair more than twice, they would replace it on the third repair with a brand new unit.
Could not say that about Nokia, HTC, Sony Ericsson or Motorola. (There was no iPhone yet in my country at that time)
Hail corporate
