If you are one of those people who are quite handy with various tools, Samsung has some good news for you. In an announcement made this week, the South Korean company has introduced a new self-repair program that will give Galaxy customers access to parts, tools, and guides to repair their own devices.
The program will be made possible with a collaboration with repair guides and parts website iFixit.
iFixit has previously worked with other OEMs such as Motorola and Steam to bring the same self-repair program to their customers.
The first devices to get spare parts from the Samsung family are the Galaxy S20 and S21 series, as well as the Galaxy Tab S7 Plus. The latest S22 series have interestingly been overlooked for the moment.
The move to work with iFixit is an obvious reaction to Apple introducing a similar self-service plan for their products, where users are being given more freedom to experiment with products they have bought from the companies.
In their press release, Samsung notes that consumers who take advantage of the program will get access to “intuitive, visual, step-by-step repair guides”. The guides for the Galaxy S20 series are already complete, while those for the Galaxy S21 and Galaxy Tab S7 Plus are currently being worked on.
Answering questions about whether parts will be made available for newer as well as more affordable phones like the Galaxy A series, a spokesperson from Samsung responded that “Samsung plans to expand the range of products, parts, and self-repair capability as the program matures.”
For the already announced devices, consumers will be able to fix their displays, back glass, and charging ports. Battery replacement has also been reportedly made easy, as the Samsung display assemblies would have pre-glued batteries attached to them.
It remains to be seen how this new move by Samsung will affect the Kenyan market, if it does at all. The price for replacing broken parts, especially for electronics, has always been exorbitant to the point of preferring to just buy a new device and call it a day.
Infinix, Tecno, and Itel have a good thing going with their CarlCare program. The price for repair to some extent is fair, taking into consideration they have more entry-level and midrange phones compared to Samsung, and they are also available in most parts of the country.
Giving the means to normal consumers however where they can make their own repairs is bound to cause some funny drama, and I am betting most people would be more comfortable parting with some money and letting the professionals handle the repairs for them.
Should this move be successful, it creates opportunities for people to hang on to their phones for longer periods, increasing their lifecycles. Couple this with Samsung recently increasing their software support for new devices to up to four generations of Android OS upgrades. If you are not a heavy user who always pursues the newest toy in town, you could easily hold on to your device for five years or more.
