Samsung's Galaxy S8, S8 Plus Are Extremely Fragile But Inexpensive To Repair

Samsung’s Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus both come with an all-glass design with its front and back panels covered in Gorilla Glass 5. The two handsets are really fragile, but luckily, both are relatively inexpensive to repair.

The electronics insurance company SquareTrade put the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus through a “breakability” test where the devices were dropped, tumbled and dunked underwater. The company has deemed the S8 the most breakable phone of all time stating that it was the first handset that they’ve tested that cracked on all sides on the first drop.

The reason why the Galaxy S8 is so fragile is obviously because of its all-glass design and its lack of top and bottom bezels to absorb the shock. The best way to protect the S8 is to have a case. However, there will always be people who would prefer to have their phones naked to show off the Galaxy S8’s beautiful design.

If they ever drop their brand new Galaxy S8, it’s quite fortunate that its screen is actually cheaper than the Galaxy S7’s. Wholesale prices for a Galaxy S8 screen replacement costs around $200 in China, which is $50 to $100 cheaper than a replacement Galaxy S7 screen, Motherboard reported. The Galaxy S8 screen is also cheaper than the $300 replacement for the iPhone 7 at launch.

“It’s low for an OLED panel in a new flagship, especially for new screen tech like the Infinity Display,” Kev Notton, founder of San Diego-based RepairMapr told Motherboard.

In general, Android smartphones are more expensive to repair because there are different brands and manufacturers that make Android smartphones. This means repair shops won’t really buy replacement parts in bulk because there really is no guarantee it would be profitable. This is also the reason why most repair shops only focus on being able to fix the most popular Android smartphones.

Although the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus are relatively inexpensive to have fixed, it also faces the issue of how hard it is to actually repair. Last month, iFixit’s smartphone experts performed a thorough teardown of the Galaxy S8 Plus and discovered it was extremely difficult to repair.

Just opening the Galaxy S8 without breaking it is a huge challenge. Due to its all-glass design, there’s a high risk of actually breaking the device when trying to get into its innards. Attempting to remove the front glass panel will also destroy the handset's display. This, of course, won’t be an issue if a Galaxy S8’s display is already destroyed in the first place.

Although opening the Galaxy S8 is risky, the experts at iFixit discovered replacing the internal components of the device isn’t too difficult. This is because most of the flagship’s internal parts are modular and replaceable, including its battery. In the end, however, iFixit gave Samsung's latest flagship a "repairability score" of 4 out of 10.

The unlocked version of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus are now available to pre-order in the United States through Best Buy or Samsung’s website. Preorder price for the Galaxy S8 is $724.99 for the 64GB model while the 64GB S8 Plus costs $824.99.