
Photo 54737253 © Valio84sl | Dreamstime.com
Samsung and iFixit, the renowned online repair guide and parts supplier, are going their separate ways over irreparable differences. The public split, effective from June 2024, marks the end of a two-year collaboration aimed at creating a repair-friendly ecosystem for Galaxy devices.
Both sides began their relationship with the goal of setting a gold standard for repair documentation and empower local independent repair businesses with the necessary tools and parts. Unfortunately, it was later found that their ways of approaching this objective “[do] not align,” lamented iFixit operations and logistics supervisor Scott Head in a blog post.
“We tried to make this work,” iFixit continued. “Gosh, we tried.”
A major point of contention for iFixit was the design of Samsung’s Galaxy devices themselves. The platform found them frustratingly glued together, forcing batteries and screens to be sold in pre-glued bundles, which increased the cost of repairs. Furthermore, the high cost of parts due to this design approach apparently pushed consumers to replace their devices instead of fixing them—a trend counter to the right-to-repair movement’s goals.
iFixit was supposedly also vexed by its inability to provide parts to local repair shops at prices and quantities that made business sense. It further expressed doubts about Samsung’s true commitment to making repair more accessible.
“Despite skepticism from the repair community, we tried to work with Samsung to create repair documentation for a few initial devices. However, flashy press releases and ambitious initiatives don’t mean much without follow-through,” shared Head. “We’ve been through this with Samsung before with Galaxy Upcycling, the amazing device reuse idea that we helped them announce. Then they ghosted us and never released it. We clearly didn’t learn our lesson the first time, and two years ago we let them convince us they were serious about embracing repair.”
In response to iFixit’s announcement, Samsung has shared in a statement to Android Authority that it will continue offering repair parts through a website called Samsungparts.com, powered by another repair provider called Encompass.
With that, iFixit will no longer collaborate directly with Samsung to develop new repair manuals. It will continue to sell parts and repair fix kits for Samsung devices, sourcing OEM parts when available.
[via Android Central and Android Authority, cover photo 54737253 © Valio84sl | Dreamstime.com]