LG G5 receives a high 8/10 repairability score from iFixit teardown thanks to its modular design
Context & Ripple Effects
iFixit's teardown of the LG G5 hands the flagship an 8/10 repairability score, crediting its modular construction. That slots the G5 into a small high-scoring club: only months earlier, Fairphone 2 earned a rare perfect 10/10 for its deliberately modular build, while Samsung's curved-glass Galaxy S6 Edge managed just 3/10 because its design resists opening.
First-order effects
- LG gains a concrete, third-party-verified selling point over Samsung's sealed flagship line — buyers who care about battery replacement and part swaps now have a scored reason to pick the G5.
- G5 owners get cheaper out-of-warranty fixes, since iFixit's score signals components are reachable without destroying the device.
Second-order effects
- Rival flagships get judged against the G5 on iFixit's scale, turning teardown scores into a competitive metric that pressures manufacturers to justify glued, hard-to-open designs.
- Accessory and parts sellers benefit: a modular, well-scored handset sustains a secondary market for batteries and modules that sealed phones starve.
Third-order effects
- If scores keep splitting the market this way — modular handsets near the top, sealed glass slabs near the bottom — repairability becomes a standing axis of smartphone differentiation alongside specs and price, with iFixit acting as the de facto referee.
- A persistent gap between leaders like Fairphone and laggards like Samsung builds the case regulators eventually cite when weighing right-to-repair rules for consumer electronics.
The trend: Smartphone design is splitting between sealed, glue-built flagships and modular, serviceable machines, with iFixit's teardown scores emerging as the public scoreboard that shapes both buyer perception and regulatory attention.