If you’ve spent over a thousand dollars on one of the best foldable phones, the last thing you want to deal with is a costly repair job. Thankfully Samsung is now giving you the opportunity to repair the damage yourself, expanding its self-service repair program to include a whole new range of devices — including the newest foldables.
This is the first time Samsung has offered self repair services for foldables, though the downside is that it only includes the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5. Anyone with an older device, like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, will be out of luck.
Fortunately it’s not just foldables getting in on the action, and Samsung is adding more devices to the program throughout December. The entire Galaxy S23 range, from the Galaxy S23 FE all the way to Galaxy S23 Ultra, will be getting self repair support, as will Galaxy A05s, the Galaxy Tab S9 range and the Galaxy Book 3 Pro and Pro 360.
Samsung’s self repair program launched last year in partnership with iFixit. The idea being that you can purchase tools and parts to repair your Samsung devices, with detailed step-by-step repair guides to walk you through the process.
Plus, if you’re not comfortable doing these yourself, it makes it easier and potentially cheaper for independent repair shops to offer genuine parts and fixes. With something as complicated and fragile as a foldable phone, with its flexible plastic display and folding hinge, I know I’d be too worried about getting it wrong.
The new parts aren’t live on iFixit’s website just yet, so we can’t say how expensive they might be. Considering a Galaxy S22 Ultra screen and battery replacement bundle costs $240 (including tools), we can expect the Galaxy S23 Ultra to be priced in a similar manner. However I would be surprised if the Galaxy Z Fold 5’s new screen and batteries didn’t end up costing quite a bit more.
Though if you want my honest opinion, the range of available spare parts seems pretty disappointing. Certainly compared to what Apple and Google both offer for their phones — the latter of which also partnering with iFixit. But some parts are still better than none.
Of course the Samsung Galaxy S24 range is on the way, and that means a whole new kind of phone to worry about breaking. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take another 12 months for replacement parts to be made available.
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