Tech giant, Google has now announced that the company is teaming up with iFixit to offer self-repair options for fixing Pixel phones. At launch (later this year), kits will be available for common repairs like replacing batteries, displays, and camera modules. Along with those self-repair options, the company says it’s opening up third-party repair alternatives to include more hardware devices like Chromebooks.
Samsung and Apple Are Also Working on Offering Self-Repair Options to Users
Currently, Pixel owners who don’t want to open the phones themselves can take the device to one of around 750 uBreakiFix locations in the U.S. and Canada. Other options are available for those in Germany, Japan, and the U.K. The move follows similar announcements from Samsung — which also partnered with iFixit — and Apple, which turned heads given its longtime stance against user self-repair options. Like other tech giants, Google’s focusing on sustainability messaging here.
The Hardware of Pixel Phones Are Designed to be Sustainable
“When we built the first Pixel phone just five years ago, we made a commitment to design our hardware products in a way that’s sustainable and puts our customers first,” Google Consumer Hardware COO Ana Corrales said in a blog post announcing the news of launching the new self-repair options. “There’s more to do, including expanding our repair network and improving repairability across our products.”
Sustainability is definitely a key concern in our throw-away, planned obsolescent culture. It’s exactly what’s driven organizations such as Fairphone to make user-repairability a centerpiece of their product design. It’s also, notably, what’s pushing a lot of ongoing state and local right-to-repair legislation, which has no doubt played a part in these organizations’ proactive embrace of the repairability of the gadgets.
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Source: TechCrunch
