Samsung's use of plastic in their smartphones and tablets may have its fair share of detractors, but it's also something that has given the company's devices notable strengths such as removable batteries, expandable storage, and, according to the folks over at iFixit, easy repairability. As a result, the Galaxy S4 has topped iFixit's Smartphone Repairability Index, with its 8/10 score making it the easiest to repair flagship smartphone released this year.
The Galaxy S4 ties with the BlackBerry Z10 and beats devices such as the iPhone 5s and HTC One (which scored a miserable 1/10), and scores points for an easy to replace battery thanks to its plastic back cover, and easy access to internal components. It loses a couple of points to the fact that its components are glued to the back of the fused assembly display, the Super AMOLED screen that only Samsung manufactures, making it difficult (and expensive) to get the assembly replaced in case something goes wrong while prying out the components.
In fact, other Samsung smartphones, such as the Galaxy S3 and Note II score an 8 as well, once again owing to the plastic construction on each device. However, if reports of a metallic Galaxy S5 hold true, next year's Smartphone Repairability Index might see Samsung's latest flagship somewhere at the bottom of the charts, though that's something we'll worry about as and when it happens.
