iFixit is a popular company which is known for tearing down newer smartphones and their idea is to help users understand whether your new phone can be repaired or not. As soon as Google announced the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL smartphones, the company set out to tear down the phone and came out with some positive results.
The team usually tears down all smartphones including Apple iPhones and there are no brownie points for guessing that iPhones are the hardest to repair. While iFixit rates somewhere between 1 to 3 which is the hardest whereas 10 is the easiest for Apple products, Google has managed to make the team happy.
According to their official report, the Pixel 3a smartphones have acquired a score of 6 out of 10 for repairability. The score is not the highest because phones that manage to acquire 8 or 9 can be considered the easiest to repair. However, experts and reviewers also opine that the new Pixel phones are considered to be the easiest to repair.
All the hardware components in the 3a phones are designed to be modular. These modular components are easier to replace in case they malfunction in a few months or sometimes years later. The first step is to remove the assembly over the display so that you can gain access to other components. One complaint here is that display is not properly supported by hardware physically and it looks like it might easily break if you are not too careful.
The entire phone is screwed in using T3 Torx fasteners which is easier to remove. The average user is not going to repair it on their own but if you are going to approach a professional company to replace the display or any modular component if it fails. Components including microphone, speaker, camera and other additional minor items can also be replaced.
Google or any smartphone manufacturer for that matter is not going to focus on making their smartphones last many years to come. Besides, with foldable phones and other devices in the foreseeable future, you will mostly end up changing your phone real soon. In the short term, the repairability factor will help users change the display in case they accidentally break it.
The entire teardown video of the Google Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL is posted on the iFixit Youtube channel. If you are a big time techie, you can watch the entire clip and understand how the company has built their new budget-friendly smartphone.