Motorola becomes the first company to sell repair kits for their devices

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/...pany-to-sell-diy-repair-kits-to-its-customers

An astounding concept, to say the least! Most manufacturers (*cough Apple *cough*) want you to go through them to get a device repaired, but oftentimes that leads to profit on the manufacturer and the consumer strapped for cash. With Motorola partnering with iFixit, this not only makes it easier for those who are confident to make repairs more official, but it also reduces the wait that would be present from sending your device in and getting it back.

Thoughts?

It's a good thing from a marketing and PR standpoint too. Oftentimes people buy something and don't like to "trade up" or replace their hardware unless they absolutely have to. My mom, for the longest time, had an old flip cellphone until a few years ago after she got tired of it doing something(butt dialing among other things). She ends up getting an IPhone 6 and behold after like 3-4 years, the battery is starting to go(which does happen but it's rather convenient and coincidental that Apple has released like three new Phones since she got her IPhone and the new XS or whatever the monstrosity is called that was released not that long ago). Long story short, she doesn't want to replace it but get it fixed.

TLDR: Stuff isn't built to last anymore and anything that pushes DIY and Independence has a niche that will never go away. In fact, it might have a resurgence when people get disgusted with the greed and lack of product quality.

As someone who currently has a Moto G5 Plus I think this is amazing news

Indifferent news, as it is a few months too late for me as I broke my motorola a few months back. Now I'm a samsung user unfortunately so I cannot take advantage of the kit

strangerhypno said:

Indifferent news, as it is a few months too late for me as I broke my motorola a few months back. Now I'm a samsung user unfortunately so I cannot take advantage of the kit

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While Samsung doesn't officially support DIY repairs, if you do a lot of research (specifically through iFixit, which is whom Motorola is partnering with on this deal), you will come across tutorials on specific device tear-downs and repair tasks. iFixit does sell a generic kit directly as well for you to make DIY phone repairs.

This kind of news makes me want to stick with Motorola phones instead of switching between different brands like before

This will cause everyone to start doing it, which is a VERY good thing.

Captain Fabio said:

This will cause everyone to start doing it, which is a VERY good thing.

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I could not agree more and I anticipate further manufacturers to initiate similar agreements.

It's good for those who fiddle around with their phone quite often. But it will most likely not make much of an impact because the majority of phone users won't be bothering with repairing and just get a new phone anyway. Afaik those types of contracts where people get new phones every 1-2 years from their respective provider are still a common thing.

However, as someone who certainly is interested in stuff like this, I could see myself going for one at some point.

Tsutarja said:

While Samsung doesn't officially support DIY repairs, if you do a lot of research (specifically through iFixit, which is whom Motorola is partnering with on this deal), you will come across tutorials on specific device tear-downs and repair tasks. iFixit does sell a generic kit directly as well for you to make DIY phone repairs.

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Depending on the model of phone, you can order parts from Samsung. They are very expensive depending on the part (It's about $230 USD for a S6 Edge screen) but they're 100% genuine and function correctly.

Captain Fabio said:

This will cause everyone to start doing it, which is a VERY good thing.

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Apple won't. They're vehemently against anyone besides official Apple techs repairing devices, just so they can nickel and dime you for repairs, and they're not cheap.

Seliph said:

It's good for those who fiddle around with their phone quite often. But it will most likely not make much of an impact because the majority of phone users won't be bothering with repairing and just get a new phone anyway. Afaik those types of contracts where people get new phones every 1-2 years from their respective provider are still a common thing.

However, as someone who certainly is interested in stuff like this, I could see myself going for one at some point.

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Depending on the instance, if a person knows someone that can do repairs, it might be easier to just order a kit and get their friend to do it for a reduced fee or a pack of beer. Especially if the buyout cost is still out of the affordable range.

Ganondorf said:

Apple won't. They're vehemently against anyone besides official Apple techs repairing devices, just so they can nickel and dime you for repairs, and they're not cheap.

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Of course Apple will never budge and let consumers repair their own devices. However, it's definitely quite possible that this move by Lenovo/Motorola definitely opens up the door to other Android manufacturers to partner with iFixit (or other similar companies and/or even offer their own solutions) and encourage the consumers who know what they're doing to officially fix their device(s).

I'm a bit mixed on this.

I'm really happy in regards to this being a huge plus for your everyday consumer as well as third-party repair shops that can finally help out the consumer when it comes to repairs to their devices! My only concern is... I'm not sure how much of your everyday consumer is familiar with tearing down their Android devices and doing DIY fixes, so this is more of a win for third-party repair shops than the consumer itself. It goes without saying that if you don't know what you're doing, you risk the potential of bricking your phone during your repair completely.

All of this is to say that, if you break your motorola, unless you're some sort of self-repair guru, you're probably going to shell out a pretty penny or so, depending on the third-party that you go to.

Then again, I'm not all too familiar on the kind of prices third-party repair shops tend to charge, so I might be wrong and things might all be fine, etc etc.