Repairing Samsung devices became even more difficult after iFixit ended

iFixit and Samsung have teamed up to offer a direct-to-consumer repair program. However, two years after launch, the two companies parted ways.

iFixit announced that it has ended its relationship with Samsung. As part of this partnership, iFixit offered official replacement parts and step-by-step instructions for replacing the display, charging ports and other components on Samsung phones and tablets.

However, just two years later, the program has come to an end, and iFixit squarely blames the South Korean company for the result. iFixit doubts whether Samsung is serious about its self-repair program, and says it “constantly faced obstacles that made us doubt Samsung’s commitment to making repairs more accessible.”

The end of this partnership also means that as of June 2024, iFixit will no longer be the designated third-party distributor of Samsung parts and tools.

iFixit will continue to sell parts and repair kits for Samsung devices and will not remove any existing repair manuals from its website. The company also says Samsung’s restriction on selling a maximum of seven parts to a single customer over a three-month period will also not apply in the future.

In an interview with The Verge, iFixit CEO and co-founder Kyle Wiens blamed Samsung for providing them with more expensive replacement parts. Citing an example, he said the South Korean brand will only ship batteries glued to the display, which means the customer will pay $160 each. Conversely, iFixit sells batteries for iPhones and Google Pixel devices for just $50.

A report by 404media shows that Samsung has imposed strict conditions on independent repair shops and service center operators. On the allegation that Samsung forced them to share customers’ personal information. It was claimed that this came from Samsung’s contracts which stated that partners had to share personal information such as customer complaint details, name and contact details.

The agreement allegedly stipulates that partners should “immediately disassemble” all phones brought in by customers and “immediately notify” Samsung that the customer used third-party parts.

On the other hand, in a statement to Android Authority, Samsung said it will continue to offer repair parts for its devices through a website called Samsungparts.com, operated by another repair provider called Encompass.