iFixit gives modular Fairphone 2 a rare 10 out of 10 for repairability [Updated]

Enlarge / The Fairphone 2 was designed with repairability in mind. (credit: Andrii Degeler )

iFixit's teardowns are handy disassembly guides, and they're great for confirming just what hardware is included inside our gadgets, but most recent consumer electronics don't fare well when it comes time for the site to assign a repairability score. Today's smartphones are typically held together with proprietary screws and a lot of glue, and while there are obvious user-facing benefits to this manufacturing approach, it tends to make the gadgets harder to open, upgrade, and repair.

That's not the case for the Fairphone 2, an Android phone built by a Dutch startup that makes repairability and serviceability one of its primary features. iFixit has torn down the phone using just human hands and a Phillips-head screwdriver, and has given the phone a rare 10 out of 10 on its repairability scale because of how easy it is for users to open and fix. The battery and the screen-two components that will most need to be replaced or repaired over the lifetime of the phone-pop out without any tools at all. Removing the modules for the camera, microphone, and headphone jack isn't much more difficult.

Despite that perfect score, there is one mark against the Fairphone 2. The front glass and the LCD panel are fused together, which makes the screen look better but increases the cost of fixing it since you need to replace the glass and the LCD even if you only break one of them. This is a common iFixit bugaboo going all the way back to the days of the iPhone 5, and why it didn't knock points off the score is anybody's guess.

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