Fulfilling His promisegives Google Pixel Fold owners in several countries the opportunity to repair their phones by offering spare parts through iFixit. Support for the device is available in the regions where it is sold, including the US, UK and Germany.
The company is being quite generous here, because it seems like you can fix just about anything. You name it, there’s a part for it. You can repair the battery, earpiece, fingerprint sensor, front camera, rear lens, and even part of the motherboard. It feels like the only thing missing is the metal frame of the phone.
Each part comes with its own comprehensive manual that takes people step-by-step through the process of repairing the foldable device. Moreover, they all have different warnings that inform users that they should be careful at certain points. For example, the corners of the smartphone glass are fragile, so it is recommended that you “use plenty of heat and be very careful.”
Of course, you can repair both the outer and inner screens on the Pixel Fold. But there is a big price difference here that can seriously limit your ability to make repairs.
Pricey parts
The pieces themselves are, for the most part, reasonably priced. For example the front interior camera costs $43/£38/€43 for the lens alone. If you don’t have the tools, you can get the full set for $50/£45/€50. You’ll also see other equipment options for most parts. The Outer screen is one of the more expensive parts, as it costs $160/£155/€160 to replace, barring missing tools.
The Inner screen, however, goes to the extreme as it costs a whopping $900 or $910, if you opt for the repair kit. That’s just over half Pixel Fold’s price tag. In the United Kingdomyou’re looking at £895 for the standalone screen and £905 for the kit. German users are looking at €900 on display with the kit carrying a price tag of €910.
It’s also the most difficult part to replace because you essentially have to remove the device’s internal hardware before transferring everything over. It will take about three to four hours to finish. Even iFixit recommends proceeding “carefully and patiently.”
Limits
Before you start purchasing the parts for your Pixel Fold, there are some limitations you should keep in mind. Firstly, some items are out of stock. No word on when they’ll be back, but you can sign up to receive notifications on them respective product page. Second, unless you are a business owner operating under the iFixit Pro program, iFixit limits purchases in the United States to seven per customer.
We reached out to iFixit to ask if it could clarify the “limited to seven per customer” rule. It might mean you can’t buy more than seven in one order, or maybe it’s seven per person forever – no more after that. The wording was a bit confusing. This story will be updated at a later date.
With this support, the Pixel Fold is now the only foldable on iFixit’s website to offer comprehensive repairs. You can replace the front screen on the Motorola Razr, but that’s it. To learn more about this device classification, check out TechRadar’s list of devices best foldable phones for 2023.