Repairing Samsung devices just got harder after iFixit partnership ends

iFixit and Samsung came together to offer a direct-to-customer repair program. But, two years after launch, the two companies are parting ways.

iFixit has announced that it has terminated its partnership with Samsung. The collaboration previously had iFixit offering official spare parts and detailed guides for replacing the display, charging ports, and other components on Samsung phones and tablets.

However, just two years in, the program has now ended, with iFixit squarely blaming the South Korean company for the outcome. iFixit doubts Samsung’s seriousness about its self-repairing program and says it “consistently faced obstacles that made us doubt Samsung’s commitment to making repair more accessible.”

The end of this partnership also means that iFixit will no longer be Samsung’s designated third-party parts and tools distributor starting from June 2024.

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iFixit will continue to sell parts and repair fix kits for Samsung devices and will not remove any existing repair guides from its website. The company also states that Samsung’s limitation of selling a maximum of seven parts per customer within three months will also not be applicable going forward.

In an interview with The Verge, iFixit CEO and co-founder Kyle Wiens blamed Samsung for providing them with more expensive spare parts. Citing an example, he said the South Korean brand would only send batteries pre-glued to the display, making the customer pay $160 a piece. Conversely, iFixit sells batteries for iPhones and Google Pixel devices for just $50.

A report by 404media claims that Samsung has laid out stringent conditions for independent repair shops and service center operators. With allegations that Samsung forced them to share personally identifiable information of customers. This is claimed to be from Samsung’s contracts, which indicated that partners must share personal information, such as customer complaint details, name, and contact information.

The contract is alleged to stipulate that partners should “immediately disassemble” any phones that customers have brought and to “immediately notify” Samsung that the customer has used third-party parts.

On the other hand, in a statement to Android Authority, Samsung said it would continue offering repair parts for its devices through a website called Samsungparts.com, powered by another repair provider called Encompass.