Info Tech The early reviews and coverage of Samsung’s Galaxy S7 have been nearly entirely positive in every respect, from its weight, hand-feel, and performance, to its exemplary camera. If you care about device repair and maintenance, however, iFixit’s report on the S7 may give you pause. While all smartphones have tended to become harder to repair over time, the Galaxy S7 does particularly poorly in this category.
Part of the problem appears to be the waterproofing. In order to certify the device under the IP68 standard, Samsung used even more glue in certain areas of the device. Components use seals to prevent water ingress (good), but freeing the daughterboard from within the phone is, according to iFixit, almost impossible without breaking the device. There’s no way to free the cables for the phone’s soft buttons without removing the OLED, and the OLED isn’t designed for removal. The device’s midframe is also glued in place.
iFixit writes: “These sandwiched cables make a daughterboard replacement (including the charging port) next to impossible, since freeing these cables means removing the OLED screen…Just for those of you keeping score, this messy situation prevents easy replacement of: display and digitizer (of course), USB port, microphone, and soft button LEDs.”
It also notes that replacing the charging port means either giving up the soft buttons or replacing the entire display. Not pleasant options. The simple solution: Get a case to protect the phone.
Samsung’s heat pipe
We covered the use of a heat pipe in an earlier story, and iFixit found the diminutive component in the course of the teardown. It’s absolutely tiny — less than half a gram of material and less than a millimeter thick.
I expected it to be small, but perhaps not quite this small. Obviously Samsung has to be getting a benefit from the design to have bothered to include it, but it’s not clear how much advantage it gives. iFixit notes that the heat pipe channels heat into the device midframe, which should allow it to radiate out to the sides of the device — which, yes, is where you tend to hold the phone. Again, we’ll need use testing to confirm if this presents a problem, but given the limited heat transfer capabilities of a heat pipe that tiny, I’m guessing it doesn’t.
Overall, the Samsung Galaxy S7 scores a rather dismal 3/10. iFixit gives it points for modular components in some areas, but the use of front and back glass and the extensive glue hurt the final score. As for the display, iFixit notes:
“The display needs to be removed (and likely destroyed) if you want to replace the USB port… Replacing the glass without destroying the display is probably impossible.”
Granted, not many people buy phones strictly on how repairable they are, but if you’re one of the people who take such ratings into account, you may want to look elsewhere for your next smartphone.