With a new phone, the Samsung Galaxy Note9, now in the hands of buyers, it is only a matter of time before someone damages one and needs to repair it. If it has already happened over this past weekend. That can only mean the folks at iFixit have obtained a unit and spent some time tearing it apart in order to figure out just how difficult it will be for repairs to be made. Their latest teardown is now available and gives us an inside look at the hardware in the Galaxy Note9.
The first issue anyone attempting a repair will run into is the adhesive that Samsung uses to keep the back panel connected. Apparently it is some really strong stuff that was carried over from the Galaxy Note8 and forced the iFixit engineers to throw every tool they had at the device to get the back off. One welcome change though involved the relocated fingerprint sensor. iFixit notes that the cable connecting the sensor is less likely to be accidentally sliced despite being short, which makes re-assembly difficult.
That same commitment to glue that Samsung used for the back panel is also used to keep the battery glued in place. That means more wrestling to get the battery separated from the rest of the phone.
Once those big pieces are out of the way – the back and the battery – iFixit found the usual assortment of chips and processors. There were some changes compared to the Galaxy Note8. A more modular construction has been utilized for the different boards, which makes it a bit easier to isolate the USB-C port. Another change involves the heat pipe, which iFixit notes has “significantly more surface area.” The suspicion is this was done to be able to better handle high processor operations like gaming when one is running Fortnite.
Overall, iFixit complains that the glue holding things together makes it “unnecessarily difficult” to get into the Galaxy Note9. They also note that display repairs will require replacement of the entire chassis or a long process of removing the glass. Which makes it sound like cracking the display is the last thing you want to do with a Galaxy Note9. On a scale of 1 to 10, iFixit rated the Galaxy Note9 with a 4 for repairability.
source: iFixit
