Samsung and Apple smartphones tend to be pretty good devices, but they are far from the friendliest when it comes to repairs.
In a study conducted by the US PIRG Education Fund, the two companies occupied the bottom two spots. Whereas Samsung received a grade of D, Apple got a worse grade of D-.
US PIRG used the European Union’s new European Product Registry for Energy Labeling (EPREL) system to determine a smartphone maker’s repairability score. The new system is designed to better reflect real-world repair problems.
The scoring system uses several key factors to determine a score. Those include the level of difficulty when disassembling a device, if a device uses standard tools, how available spare parts are, if or how one can access repair documentation, and how long software support is.
Even when it comes to software support, Samsung and Apple came up short. Within the EPREL database, neither company officially commits to more than five years of software updates.
By comparison, Google and Motorola did alright. While Google received a C- grade, Motorola received a B+ grade.
As with any other report, this one has some limitations worth keeping in mind.
To start, the number of tested devices was uneven across the board. For example, US PIRG tested eight Google smartphones and five Samsung smartphones. That’s because smartphones must be listed in the EPREL database to be considered for testing.
Then there is pricing. The EPREL system does not consider the cost of spare parts for a smartphone. That’s quite the omission, seeing how repair costs can play significant roles in whether someone replaces or fixes a smartphone.
Leave a Reply