Samsung Will Launch New Self-Repair Program This Summer

Samsung is opening up the ability to repair its devices at home with the announcement of its new self-repair program. Starting this summer, owners of certain Samsung Galaxy devices will be able to acquire genuine parts, repair tools and detailed repair guides to aid in the self-repair process.

The program will initially offer these resources for the Galaxy S20 and S21 series of smartphones and the Galaxy Tab S7+ tablet, but Samsung plans to expand self-repair offerings to more devices. “Availability of self-repair will provide our consumers the convenience and more options for sustainable solutions,” Ramon Gregory, Samsung Electronics America SVP of Customer Care, said in a statement. “We’re empowering consumers with even more sustainable solutions to care for and recycle their devices.”

Samsung’s self-repair program will provide resources to help replace display assemblies, charging ports and back glass on select devices. The company stated it plans to make more repairs available in the future and will accept used parts from independent repairers so that they may be recycled. The company is also partnering with online repair community iFixit to help develop the program.

The announcement comes as a number of major tech developers have promised better self-repair options for their devices in response to growing support for right-to-repair protections. Late last year, Apple announced its own self-repair program slated to launch in early 2022 while Microsoft promised to open up the repairability of its devices to their owners. Both decisions came after years of advocacy from right-to-repair supporters and shareholders as legislation over the issue remains embroiled in the halls of Congress.

A recent report from the U.S. Public Research Interest Group’s Education Fund on the repairability of devices from major tech companies ranked Samsung ahead of both Apple and Google on its list of smartphone developers, though the average disassembly rating of its devices ranked lower than Google. The report also highlighted Samsung’s membership in the Consumer Technology Association, which lobbies against right-to-repair legislation.

Samsung stated it would share more information on its self-repair program following its launch this summer.