Collaboration between Samsung and iFixit means you can repair your own smartphone.
Currently in the US only, the newly released collaboration between Samsung and iFixit is years in the making, partly due to legal pressure regarding the Right to Repair (government legislation that allows consumers the ability to repair and modify their own consumer products).
Thankfully, Samsung is the latest manufacturer to announce a DIY repair kit option for some of its smartphones and tablets. The turnaround means that iFixit, a community of like-minded DIYers and fixers, has been able to collaborate with Samsung to create a set of tools, instructions, spare parts, charging ports and glass to enable you to fix your own devices.
The collaboration is made much more appetising when you consider iFixit already has a reputation for making high-quality tools and fix kits, not to mention its expert knowledge.
And while the repair kits are quite expensive, your smartphone is much more expensive, so you should treat it to a decent brand rather than risk destroying it with bad replacement parts or risky dismantling. You can buy specific tool kits for certain phones and tablets, and are given the instructions to fix them yourself.
You can even get replacement battery kits, which are obviously a bit more expensive due to the official Samsung battery. This is a great start on the way to sustainability, and hopefully many more manufacturers will get on board, as we need to start repairing things rather than just buying new all the time.
As mentioned, the offer is only available in the US, but will hopefully spread internationally soon and definitely in Europe as the European Commission has created new legislation to “promote reparability and increase the lifespan of appliances and devices”.
