Samsung Discourages Third-Party Phone Repairs

Samsung has talked up its device repairability over the past few years, in partnership with iFixit. However, iFixit has now ended its partnership with Samsung, claiming the company was sabotaging efforts to make repair parts easily available.

iFixit is a company that creates repair tools, repair guides, and replacement parts for a wide variety of computers, phones, tablets, and other devices (usually with limited or no help from the original manufacturers). iFixit previously partnered with Samsung to offer official replacement parts for Galaxy phones and tablets, complete with officially-sanctioned repair guides. However, that partnership has seemingly now ended, and iFixit is blaming Samsung.

iFixit said in a blog post, “As we tried to build this ecosystem we consistently faced obstacles that made us doubt Samsung’s commitment to making repair more accessible. We couldn’t get parts to local repair shops at prices and quantities that made business sense. The part prices were so costly that many consumers opted to replace their devices rather than repair them. And the design of Samsung’s Galaxy devices remained frustratingly glued together, forcing us to sell batteries and screens in pre-glued bundles that increased the cost.”

In an interview with The Verge, iFixit said its deal with Samsung only allowed it to sell seven parts per customer within a three-month period. That made selling parts to independent repair shops nearly impossible. iFixit was also unable to sell parts for newer Samsung devices, including the Galaxy S23 and S24 lineups.

iFixit says its partnership with Samsung will end in June 2024, and after that point, the restrictions on selling parts will be removed. iFixit won’t be able to guarantee the same access to parts or create new guides with Samsung’s help, but all existing guides will remain available. The company said, “We will continue to sell parts and repair fix kits for Samsung devices, sourcing OEM parts when available and clearly indicating whether parts are original or aftermarket. Just like we do for Apple repair parts.”

Samsung’s direct partnerships with independent repair shops aren’t going well, either. A new report from 404 Media explained that Samsung’s contracts require shops to “immediately disassemble” devices that have parts “not purchased from Samsung” and notify the company of those third-party parts. Repair shops also must report customer information to Samsung, including the device serial number, telephone number, and address.

This all paints a bleak picture: it seems like Samsung really doesn’t want you or any independent repair shops to fix your phone. We’ve reached out to Samsung for a statement, and we will update this article when (or if) we get a response.

Source: iFixit , The Verge , 404 Media

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