This is why we love iFixit. We recently got to see a cool teardown video from iFixit for the Pixel 9 Pro XL. Most of the reporting surrounding this is about how Google designed the 9 series to be more durable and how it does better in drop testing, but for me, that’s not the real story here.
The device gets a mediocre repairability score of 5, which is generous from what I see. A trained professional with all the right tools wasn’t able to open the phone without breaking the display. Removing the battery was a nightmare for the very same professional. And this phone is supposed to last for seven years?
Look, anything will last seven years (or longer) if you’re willing to spend money on it. But Google has made a big deal about supporting its devices for seven years, so now it needs to build them in a way that is designed to be easy to keep alive for that long. I just ain’t seeing it here.
The Pixel 9 Pro XL design has a few (almost) saving graces. You don’t have to remove the display to change the battery. That’s good because the display will break while trying to remove it, and the battery will need replacing long before your seven years are up. Unfortunately, removing and replacing the battery is going to be unnecessarily difficult.
That doesn’t account for all the other things that can easily wear out during the rated life of the phone. A great example is that your USB port is going to get loose and might need replacing. If you use the phone — or any phone — for seven years you’ll probably need to replace or repair something.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
Seven years is dumb anyway
The idea of using a phone for seven years is a bit silly anyway. For some people (like me), having to only spend money and buy a phone every seven years is awesome. New stuff will come, and I might want some of it, but as long as it still does what it does today, I’m good.
Most people don’t see it that way. That new thing Google shows off that isn’t going to work on your old phone is all the reason you need to buy a new one. That’s how this works — even on the iPhone. New features will require new hardware, and you’re going to be left out.
Google (and Samsung and Apple and every other phone maker) knows this. They count on it and show you things only to tell you that you need something newer to use them. I appreciate that companies support their products longer, but I don’t pretend they do it because they are the good guy. They will get you to part with your money one way or another.
The better way
Google doesn’t have to invent anything here. I recently looked at the HMD Skyline. It’s a pretty good mid-range phone with a cool camera. One thing special to me is that it’s built so that you can open it and change the battery yourself. My problem is that it has a very short three-year support window.
Then there’s Fairphone, which makes phones with a 100% repairability score. If you follow instructions and have the right tools, you can easily keep them running when parts break.
Even if you don’t want to swap the battery or the USB port yourself, any shop is going to be able to do these repairs without breaking anything else or charging you more than it’s worth.
A big reason why Google makes Pixel phones is to show everyone what it thinks a smartphone should be. They are the definition of a halo device.
Why not go a step further and design them so that your seven-year support promise means a little more? I probably won’t drop my phone and break the screen, accidentally leave it in the sun, or do anything else to “break” my phone. I will use it enough that I’ll need a new battery in a few years.
If it were easy to swap and something anyone could do themselves, it’d be another selling point of a pretty damn good line of phones.
