The iFixit-Google partnership that was announced in April is now live. iFixit reports that original Google smartphone parts are now sold “in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and European countries where the Pixel is available.”
iFixit appears to offer screens, batteries, and rear camera assemblies for most Pixel phone models, as well as smaller parts like adhesive and cool graphite tape. Despite the official partnership with Google, we wouldn’t call the iFixit Pixel store the ultimate source for Pixel parts. For the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, which are currently in production and should have plenty of parts available, you can’t buy replacement glass backs, charging ports, front cameras, or any thin cables that you might accidentally break while working. I’m taking the phone apart again. Just compare the official Pixel 6 Pro parts list, which has only six positions, with any of the iPhone parts lists., which has about 30 parts, and you can see that there are a lot of missing elements.
iFixit says this is just the beginning, and that it will “continue to add new types of parts to our catalog”for the Pixel 2 and later. For the Pixel 6a, which comes out at the end of July, iFixit is promising a “full selection”of parts “as soon as possible.”
iFixit says Google is constantly improving the repairability of its devices, although the repair site has never rated the Pixel 6 or 6 Pro. (iFixit’s last full Pixel teardown was on the Pixel 4 XL in 2019.) iFixit also praised Google’s willingness to make software recovery tools available online, such as an easy-to-use OS flashing tool and a fingerprint scanner calibration tool for the Pixel 6. If Google truly cares about device longevity and reducing e-waste, we would like the company to match its competitors when it comes to software support, where Google is still lagging behind Samsung (four years) and Apple releasing major OS updates. (five years).