iFixit Doubts Samsung’s Commitment to Accessible Repairs, Ends Partnership

It has been almost two years since iFixit and Samsung announced a self repair partnership that would bring genuine self-repair kits to you for those high-end Galaxy devices that need fixing. Today, iFixit is calling off the partnership and did so by dragging Samsung’s commitment to the cause.

You should read the full write-up from iFixit (here) to get what appears to be a very honest review of Samsung’s approach to repairability. In short, iFixit said that Samsung’s approach “does not align with our mission” and that they “doubt Samsung’s commitment to making repair more accessible.” Yikes.

iFixit goes on to admit that they’ve been through this before with Samsung, where the Korean tech giant just doesn’t follow-through with promises. I had forgotten about the Galaxy Upcycling program that they partnered with Samsung on back in 2017 that found a similar fate. At the end of that program, Samsung apparently just ghosted iFixit after they had put in all this work to kick off the program. And now with this partnership, they seem to have been mostly ghosted again.

The note on the ending of this partnership touches on the fact that Samsung’s devices just aren’t really repairable any longer or that repairability of their products continues to decline. That idea simply doesn’t align with what iFixit has dedicated its existence to. iFixit also doesn’t want to keep making detailed repair guides without any help from Samsung, which they claim to be the case.

Starting in June, iFixit says that they will no longer be the designated third-party parts and tools distributor for Samsung. However, they aren’t going to remove their guides or any other information, plus they’ll sell OEM parts when available and also “clearly” indicating when the parts aren’t. In the end, iFixit’s goal remains to make repairability easy and accessible and that part isn’t changing. It’s just the official partnership with Samsung that is.