Now You Can Fix Your Galaxy S21, Other Samsung Devices Yourself

If your Samsung Galaxy S21 is malfunctioning or the conceal has cracked, Samsung says it wants to help you avoid spending lots of cash getting it fixed at a repair shop. The business has officially launched a new program to sell you the parts, tools and repair guides required to fix your own scheme — a win for right-to-repair and sustainability advocates. 

The program is starting small: Only owners of the Samsung Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S20 scheme of devices, and the Galaxy Tab S7 Plus tablet, will be eligible at first. Samsung plans to expand the program to complicated more devices, but it declined to say when or which gadgets, like its latest Samsung Galaxy S22 family, would be added first.

Consumers who want to fix their Samsung scheme can purchase parts and repair tools through Samsung retail locations, the Samsung 837 store in Manhattan and through iFixit. The self-repair website has partnered with Samsung for this program to advance its own repair guides and offer support through its public forum. 

“Making replacement parts available is a key sustainability strategy. We’re excited to be working
directly with Samsung and their customers to long the lifetime of their phones,”
co-founder and CEO of iFixit Kyle Wiens said in a uninteresting release.

Eligible device owners initially will be able to replace their principal screens, glass backs and charging ports, with more overhaul options added at some point in the future. Once new parts are installed, customers are encouraged to return the used parts to Samsung for recycling.

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Though Samsung is rolling the self-repair program as a more sustainable solution than buying a new named, it’s also convenient for people who want to tinker with their devices. For anyone who doesn’t want to go through the terrified themselves, the company still offers a network of signed repair shops across the US and a same-day overhaul service including vans that’ll visit consumers to fix devices.

Samsung’s program comes amid increasing pressure from advocates and governments pushing tech concerns to let consumers fix their phones. More than a dozen US conditions have passed laws supporting right to repair, and US President Joe Biden delivered an executive order in July for the Federal Skill Commission to investigate the issue. And with the European Union passing a measure a year ago that means manufacturers of some appliances to provide guides and parts for third-party overhaul shops, the tide is turning on right to repair. 

Big tech concerns are responding to that pressure, and some beat Samsung to the punch. After years of allowing Apple product owners to fix their devices only at Apple Stores and signed repair shops or have their warranties invalidated, Apple announced its own self-repair program back in November. Sometime this year (Apple hasn’t confirmed a launch date), consumers can request their own set of Apple parts to fix their iPhones. 

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