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With the release of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 and the imminent announcement of the Pixel 9, it’s not the smartphones that have been the most talked about, and yet the HMD Skyline and the CMF Phone 1 have arguments that few other smartphones can boast of having: an elegant design and a (relative) emphasis on repairability.
Released two weeks apart, the two phones don’t exactly follow the same philosophy when it comes to hardware durability, but they have the advantage of showing that an alternative path is possible compared to the glued-on smartphones that currently dominate the industry.
From the iPhone to the Galaxy S to Google Pixel, the most talked about phones are rarely those that make the most effort in terms of repairability. Sure, Samsung, Google and Apple have made progress in recent years by offering more easily accessible spare parts, comprehensive repair guides and innovations in the field of disassembly, but accessing the insides of these phones still requires the use of specialized tools and a lot of patience. A situation often justified by the choice of “premium” finishes such as improved thinness or the choice of a glass or metal back.
A new path for repairability?
While smartphones have seemed to be stuck in this relatively repair-unfriendly paradigm lately (with the notable exception of Fairphone), the new phones from HMD and Nothing have shown that exemplary finishes don’t necessarily come with compromises on disassembly. Until now, one of the only easily disassembled phones on the market was the Fairphone 4. For all the qualities that the Dutch phone has, we can’t say that it exactly shines in its finishing qualities. Its plastic back serves Fairphone’s message about repairability, but doesn’t exactly exude “premium”.
The Skyline chooses a material considered more “noble”, tempered glass, without hiding its components behind more than a screwdriver. The CMF Phone 1 certainly uses a plastic back, but with a slightly more daring design than that of the Fairphone. Two choices that remind us that it is therefore indeed possible to combine repairability with elegance, whatever the ambient discourse suggests.
Let’s say it right away though: the CMF Phone 1 is not exactly a paragon of repairability. Behind its repairable look, you still have to get impatient over a whole bunch of little screws just to change its shell, and a fortiori to remove its battery. And while the Skyline is almost flawless on this point, HMD had the very bad idea of only guaranteeing three years of software support on its phone, making its fine speech about durability (and therefore repairability) almost obsolete.
Disassembling a smartphone can be easy
However, despite these flaws, these mobiles have the advantage of reaccustoming the general public to the idea of a disassemblable smartphone. With nothing more than a few turns of a screw, it is possible to access a nice little pile of components. A huge leap forward compared to mobiles that require disassembling the screen with heat guns in the hope of changing a part. The Skyline and the Phone 1 have the immense advantage of not being intimidating to disassemble. A component that should not be overlooked in the ecosystem of repairability.
It would take a lot (a lot) more for these smartphones to really be considered fundamentally “sustainable”, but the efforts of HMD and Nothing at least prove that the black box smartphone is not inevitable and that another, premium but repairable, voice is possible. It’s a very small victory, but it is symbolic.
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