I’ve got more than a few broken smartphones sitting around, taking up space and being generally useless. This got me thinking: How easy is it for someone like me to fix a smartphone?
Let me tell you—fixing my smartphone was much easier than I thought possible.
Most Phones Are Constructed Similarly
Most phones are manufactured in China, and all need to be assembled efficiently, with part of the assembly process involving a human.
After many years of smartphone manufacturing innovation, we’re at a point where most smartphones follow a similar formula for construction. iPhones are usually a sandwich of the screen and the back glass, holding the internals in the middle. Android phones typically open from the back panel with their internals nested in a frame the screen adheres to.
While folding phones look complicated, they’re often constructed similarly, but the internals are spread between two phone housings. I didn’t even need to search for a teardown tutorial for my Huawei P30 Lite because it’s very similar to my Redmi Note 11. Transplanting the internals over to the new shells was almost an identical process.
Cracked Phone Screen? Here’s How to Know if It’s Serious
When your screen cracks, do you need to replace it immediately?
You Don’t Need Expensive Tools
While you don’t have quick access to the internals like in old phones, it doesn’t take specialized equipment to tear down a smartphone and replace parts. A smartphone screwdriver set, heat gun, pry tool, 99% isopropyl alcohol, and a suction cup will get you through most basic repair jobs.
If you’ve seen videos of expensive lasers precisely burning away the adhesive off the back glass of an iPhone, those are for professionals who do not want to waste time prying off pieces of broken glass. You can pry off and replace the broken glass of your phone without it, albeit a tedious process.
When I bought a replacement screen with the shell for both my Huawei P30 Lite and Redmi Note 11, the sellers included a small packet of tools: plastic pry tools, a suction cup, and some tiny screwdrivers. I used my screwdriver, but the suction cup and pry tools were incredibly useful. The only thing I needed to buy was some thermal paste to allow the CPU to dissipate heat.
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The Best Smartphone Repair Kits
Need to repair your smartphone and want to give it a go at home? Here are some of the best repair kits you’re able to buy.
There Are Heaps of Resources Available
Thanks to the internet, so much information is available at our fingertips. Thanks to YouTube tutorials, iFixit, and various online forums, you can fix almost any modern device.
All you need to search is the device name followed by “teardown,” and you’ll see many results. I highly encourage you to watch the whole video before attempting the fix yourself. This lets you know what tools you might need; some phones need a heat gun, while others don’t.
After watching the video and gathering everything you need to do it yourself, you’re able to follow along as needed.
It’s Better for the Environment
If the only problem with your phone is that it was broken, then fixing it is way better than just tossing it to become e-waste.
Certain brands like Samsung and Apple have trade-in programs that give you discounts to buy a new phone, but buying a new phone is still much more expensive than fixing the phone. If you weren’t having performance issues with your old phone, is it worth the hassle of learning a new phone or forking out that much money for a new one?
Smartphones get better every year, to the point that the returns are diminishing. If your phone is about five years old, it can most likely keep up with the demands of daily life—some people still even use theiriPhone 11 in 2025. [Editor’s Note: My wife still uses a 2018 Google Pixel 3 that’s been patched up a few times!]
Being able to fix something as crucial to modern life as a smartphone is extremely satisfying—and thanks to the amount of information on the internet, it also isn’t difficult.
