Just realized the difference between my granddad's garage from 1990 and mine today is basically a single flathead screwdriver vs a whole drawer of weird plastic pry tools.

He fixed everything with that one screwdriver and some patience, but I spent 20 minutes last night digging through Amazon reviews for the right spudger to open my kid's broken tablet without cracking the screen, has anyone else noticed how much harder simple repairs have gotten since companies started gluing everything shut?

3 comments

3 Comments

price.ray20d agoTop Commenter

Right? iFixit kits pay for themselves after one phone repair lol

gibson.morgan19d ago

Wait, do you think that glue trend actually saves companies money or just makes us buy new stuff faster?

grant47819d ago

My buddy works at a repair shop in Portland and he told me the glue thing is a nightmare on their end too. They literally charge double for screen replacements now because the adhesive takes forever to clean off. The old screws and clips were way faster. So companies like Apple or Samsung save maybe 50 cents per device on materials but pass all the repair time costs onto us. It's probably intentional though. If the average person can't swap a battery without destroying their phone, they're more likely to just buy a new one. My friend says they see people give up and buy new phones all the time after they realize the repair bill is half the price of a new device.