Genuine Google Pixel display and battery replacement kits are in for cheap self-repair
After Google announced a repair partnership over its Pixel phones, the crafty folks from iFixit, aka the Wild West of Gadget Disassembling have now announced that the first Fix Kits for the last five generations of Pixels are now in stock.
Apple is notorious for doing this with the chips in their computers. There's a particular charging chip on the MacBook Pro … there is a standard version of the part and then there's the Apple version of the part that sits very slightly tweaked, but it's tweaked enough that it's only required to work in this computer, and that company again is under contractual requirement with Apple.
These consist of genuine parts that Google provided to iFixit, along with the various tools and manuals needed to replace your display, housing, camera, mic, or other internals and externals.
Google's move is most likely to preempt any requirements that will come its way after the Right to Repair act's vote, just like Samsung set up a partnership with iFixit over Galaxy phone repairs, or Apple now sells genuine replacement kits on its website and allows third-party repair shops to do the fixings that Apple Stores do.
The iFixit announcement clarifies that Google has now provided it with original repair and replacement components for the Pixel 2, 3, 3a, 4, 4a, 5, 5a, and Pixel 6, as well as their bigger versions, like the XL and Pro models.
The OG Google phone also gets some repair Fix Kit love, but not with genuine parts as Google is no longer stocking those, of course. Here are some of the Pixel 6 Pro self-repair set prices:
- Google Pixel 6 Pro Screen - $199.99
- Google Pixel 6 Pro Battery - $49.99
- Google Pixel 6 Pro Rear Camera - $176.99
Google adheres to the letter of The Right to Repair Act
The Right to Repair Act has been making the rounds since 2014 when it was first introduced in South Dakota, and recently the independent Federal Trade Commission in charge just voted unanimously to enforce it. This follows President Biden's executive order on competitiveness that was introduced not long ago where phone and tractor makers alike were mentioned for monopolistic practices in the maintenance and repair racket.
Apple realized where the wind is blowing as early as this spring when it greatly expanded its Independent Repair Provider program both geographically, to more than 200 countries, and in scope, giving them access to original components, repair manuals and tools, as well as the all-important diagnostics software for repairs after the warranty expiration.
According to the FTC, the industry's backlash against their vote is nullified by statistics, as there is "no empirical evidence to suggest that independent repair shops are more or less likely than authorized repair shops to compromise or misuse customer data." What does the FTC vote really mean, though?
It's not exactly clear for now, really, as the FTC can introduce legislation but that could take years to pass, and it can also bring lawsuits to companies it deems are unfair to the Right to Repair principles. Still, for repair companies the ruling is a boo, as the situation with sourcing some genuine parts is as follows, according to iFixit's CEO testimony for the FTC:
We've seen manufacturers restrict our ability to buy parts. There's a German battery manufacturer named Varta that sells batteries to a wide variety of companies. Samsung happens to use these batteries in their Galaxy earbuds … but when we go to Varta and say can we buy that part as a repair part, they'll say 'No, our contract with Samsung will not allow us to sell that'...
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