LG Electronics’ newest flagship LG G5 has garnered praise all over for its modular design that lets you add various Friends accessories like Hi-Fi speaker quickly and easily. Now folks at iFixit have cracked open the G5 to see how easy it is to repair the device, and reveal its innards. The smartphone scored an impressive 8/10 on iFixit’s repairability score, compared to just 3/10 for Samsung’s Galaxy S7.
G5 innards are easy to disassemble
iFixit teardown experts said the LG G5 was ridiculously easy to open up and repair. Most of its components are modular, making for “easier, cheaper part replacement.” LG also has a tradition of making its phone easier to repair. For instance, last year’s LG G4 had also scored 8/10 in terms of repairability. Most of the innards in LG G5 are rarely glued, therefore easy to disassemble.
iFixit pointed out that the replaceable battery minimizes the amount of e-waste associated with electronics. It also allows you to carry an extra battery. You can pop open the display after just two screws and some pry-able clips. “No fuss, no adhesive,” said iFixit. Experts said the phone’s modular chin at the bottom was the only component with a high amount of adhesive. It houses the speaker, the USB Type-C port, and several antennas. But replacing it doesn’t require much effort as it is a modular component.
iFixit reveals LG G5 innards
The only complaint iFixit had was about the phone’s fused display assembly that would require complete replacement if the LCD or display glass breaks. The teardown revealed that LG G5 comes with a different fingerprint scanner than the LG-made Nexus 5X.
Other components include Samsung-made 4GB LPDDR4 RAM, Samsung’s 32GB MLC Universal Flash Storage, Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, NXP 54802 NFC Controller, Qualcomm WSA8815 Audio Codec, and Qualcomm SMB1350 Quick Charge 3.0 IC. The LG G5 hit the US store shelves last week.
