Apple and Samsung named the least repairable phone brands in new report

[midian182]

In brief: Samsung and Apple continue to lead the pack when it comes to global smartphone sales, but the tech giants are at the bottom in the area of phone repairability. Samsung fared slightly better than its rival with a score of D (E being the lowest), while Cupertino managed a D-.

The repairability scores come from the Failing the Fix 2026 study by the US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Education Fund, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group.

This fifth edition uses the EU's European Product Registry for Energy Labeling (EPREL) criteria for assessing smartphones. It covers 105 devices, grouped by manufacturer.

The results show that despite being the world's two leading smartphone makers, mobile devices from Samsung and Apple are the least repairable.

Apple is the bottom of the table. Its D- score only just manages to avoid the lowest repairability rating of E. Samsung is only slightly above Apple with a score of D.

At the other end of the scale is Motorola. It might not compete with Apple and Samsung when it comes to sales, but the report states that its phones are the most repairable, scoring an impressive B+.

Google and its Pixel line are right in the middle when it comes to repairability. The company's C- score places it above Samsung on the table

The European Union repair score takes into account factors such as the availability of spare parts, tools, and repair information, the length of software support, and the number of steps required for simple repairs like replacing a phone battery.

The report also looks at laptop repairability, which uses an index introduced by the French government. The scores here are notably better than with mobiles, though Apple is once again at the bottom with a C-. Samsung is three places higher, scoring a B-, while Asus tops the chart with B+.

It's possible that the results don't include the new MacBook Neo. Apple's budget machine recently underwent a teardown by YouTuber Tech Re-Nu, who found it to be one of Apple's most repair-friendly MacBooks in years – iFixit came to the same conclusion with its teardown.

The report notes how unrepairable devices are a problem for the environment and contribute to the growing amount of electronic waste.

The findings also underscore why right-to-repair policies matter. The EU's smartphone rules, in force since June 20, 2025, require repairability labels, spare-parts access, and longer software support, while PIRG's scorecard also penalizes brands linked to groups opposing repair legislation.

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Apple and Samsung named the least repairable phone brands in new report

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Meanwhile the iPhone ranks above both Google and Samsung on ifixit.

Mechanically the apple products are not hard to repair. They're getting dinged for having control over the part supply.

 

[Hecate91]

Companies like Apple or Samsung having unreasonably tight control over part supplies is part of repairability. As a customer I could care less what a company like ifixit says about how easy the device is to disassemble, because being able to buy parts is of course part of being able to fix my own phone or laptop.
ifixit has good tools, but I would question if they're in the pockets of Apple to get good scores.
Unsurprisingly PC laptop manufacturers score higher, as most of them still let you replace the screen, battery, SSD and keyboard, without parts being paired to the motherboard, and without having to go through the first party manufacturer which can just tell you no parts are available for the end user, just pay a repair center instead.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

As a customer you should care what outlets like iFixit have to say. Being able to buy all the spare parts in the world wont help you if you cant disassemble the device without breaking it due to tar or bad design.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

I don't really care if my phone is repairable beyond battery replacement because I value size and weight more.

Laptops are farther up the scale but beyond RAM & SSD upgrades I'm still pretty meh. Maybe because I've never broken a laptop in all my many years. But at the point an old laptop needs repair, why not just buy a new one? Sure my old Surface Pro 5 (2017) is probably still churning on with it's new owner at adequate speeds for most things but a new one would be way faster or even a new-er used one if you don't want to spend as much.

 

[BadThad]

Very few people ever repair their broken phones, they just get a new one.

 

[NumberNine]

Very few people ever repair their broken phones, they just get a new one.

I tried once and will never try again.
Learned my lesson there, to be sure.

 

[The Talking Tech]

Both companies have awful consumer friendly practices.

 

[toooooot]

I replaced batteries in 2 old phones for fun once. The phones were 5 and 6 years old, both Motorola.
It was hard, and there was no way I would do it properly for the first time. But I am confident that
if I kept doing it, I could do it right. At least, the second one went a lot easier.
If you can watch a video and repeat the actions, you can learn.
And eventually, you would be able to do it on all models.

 

[scoffer]

Both companies have awful consumer friendly practices.

Can you show me any modern-day tech companies that have good, consumer-friendly practices?

 

[daffy duck]

Touch wood have never had to have a phone repaired in 25 years, other than replace old battery, but that was in the day you could do it yourself.

At least Lenoblo has improved, but they are still are hard pass as they still have way to many faults under warranty.