iFixit gets an HTC One M9 to tear down. Low repairability score and questionable QC arise

The guys over at iFixit got their hands on HTC's brand-new (though, not in looks) flagship – the One M9. From there on, they did what they do best – took the device apart and meticulously recorded every little bit of the process for the do-it-yourself guys all over the world. So, what did the tear-down reveal?

Well, upon first sight of the unit, iFixit reports a scratch already being present on the display, out of the box (ouch). The actual packaging also has a small blemish, which is not a huge problem, but doesn't point towards stellar quality assurance when we are talking about a flagship device. To top it off, upon turning the handset on, iFixit found that there is a defective pixel towards the center of the screen (double ouch!).

Leaving discussions on whether the fixers were dealing with a bad lemon or not, they went ahead and continued the dismantling. At first, they were pleasantly surprised to see that HTC didn't use glue to enclose the One M9 like it did with the original One – opening the case up is a matter of removing a few screws and then carefully, but steadily prying the back half off of the front, as there are a few stubborn clips still holding them together.

Once inside, however, anyone who dares try to repair the device or at least change the battery is in for a surprise – the motherboard is glued over the battery. So, to replace the li-ion juicebox, one must first pry the phone's main circuit board off. Additionally, the battery is glued on the other side, too, meaning that if the repairman didn't damage it when pulling the motherboard off – they have a chance to do it again.

From there on, the camera panel, the BoomSound speakers, and the display panel are accessible – after some prying and heating where needed, as the display panel is apparently fixed in place with a very sticky adhesive.

Final fixability score? 2/10 – pretty much continuing the trend of the original HTC One, which was the first smartphone ever to receive a 1/10 on the iFixit scale. Thankfully, HTC now has the Uh-Oh Protection program, so, if you happen to break your One M9 during the first year of ownership, you just might get a new one instead of trying to get the old one repaired.