Cracked Samsung Galaxy screen driving you to distraction? The mobile giant has somewhat stunned the world of DIY-fixers by recently announcing they’ll give you their blessing to fix it yourself, supply approved spares, and even show you how.
Now, before we begin, attempting to fix a Samsung Galaxy device, or any mobile for that matter, is not something for the faint-hearted. One slip of the screwdriver and it could be curtains for your prized phone.
However, the Korean mobile giant has been generous enough to limit their ‘right to repair’ initiative to just a few relatively simple fixes to cure the most common complaints. Also, the scheme will only apply to certain recent releases.
What is the Samsung Self-Repair Programme?
At the end of March 2022, Samsung announced their new Self-Repair Programme, describing it as an initiative for customers to “prolong the life of their devices”. The venture is due to be rolled out this summer.
The company will give authorisation for users to fix the display, back glass and charging ports of Galaxy phones. Everything else such as batteries and other electronic components remain off limits. Samsung has partnered with right-to-repair champions <a href=”https://www.ifixit.com/”iFixit to provide customer support and user guides for the programme.
Though Samsung says they will monitor the success of the scheme and plan to add further models to it in time, for now the Self-Repair Programme is limited to the Galaxy S20 and S21 families and the Galaxy Tab 7+.
Why is Samsung launching its DIY-fix scheme?
The step comes amidst the growing “right-to-repair” movement that aims to reduce the environmental impact of electronic devices. That mountain of e-waste, which has reached record levels, is partly driven by consumers becoming trapped in a cycle of regularly replacing mobiles once they become broken or as never-ending product updates are launched. Millions of mobiles end up in general trash and ultimately landfill sites every year worldwide.
It has been reported that the scheme could save customers 50% on the cost of sending in their phone for a screen replacement through official Samsung channels. And that can only be good news – benefitting both our pockets and the environment at the same time.