Nexus 6P teardown reveals square fingerprint reader and very poor repairability
Context & Ripple Effects
This teardown slots into an iFixit arc that has been scoring every 2015 flagship: the Galaxy S6 Edge earned just 3 out of 10, and the HTC One M9's streamlined body buried its battery while leaving the display nearly unrepairable (per its own teardown). What makes the Nexus 6P notable is the company split inside Google's own lineup — five days earlier, the Nexus 5X teardown showed many components are modular and independently replaceable, so the two new Nexuses land with opposite repair stories.
First-order effects
- Buyers of the 6P inherit a device rated very poorly for repairability, meaning common fixes like battery or screen replacement are costly or impractical compared to the sibling Nexus 5X sold alongside it.
- The unusual square fingerprint reader gives repair shops and accessory makers a new form factor to handle, distinct from the circular readers on prior devices.
Second-order effects
- Huawei-built Nexus hardware now sits on iFixit's leaderboard below the more modular 5X, giving Google a visible quality gap to close if it wants its flagship tier to match its mid-tier repair story.
- With Samsung's glued S7 following the S6 Edge's low score, low repairability is becoming the default among Android flagships, making any manufacturer that ships a modular design an easy point of differentiation in reviews.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds across this coverage, Google appears to have absorbed the criticism: the next-generation Pixel XL later scored a 6 out of 10 with most components modular despite a fragile screen, suggesting repairability became a design input rather than an afterthought.
- A year of near-uniform low scores from iFixit positions third-party teardown grading as a standing reputational check on flagship design choices, one manufacturers now have to anticipate at the CAD stage.
The trend: Flagship smartphones are splitting into sealed, glue-heavy designs versus modular builds, and Google's path from the poorly-repairable Nexus 6P to the more serviceable Pixel XL shows teardown pressure starting to shape hardware decisions.