Newsletter
Google has a vision of making Pixel phones easy to repair, so easy that “you can reach into a kitchen drawer and be able to replace your screen.” The company shared this vision in the latest episode of the Made by Google podcast. The podcast featured an interview with Steven Nickel, Google’s director of consumer hardware operations.
Google plans to make Pixel phones repairable without special tools
Google is one of the leading tech firms in the right-to-repair movement. The company publicly endorsed the right-to-repair bill in Oregon and has been vocal against parts pairing, i.e., OEMs putting software restrictions on hardware components. It offers an online calibration tool for the under-display fingerprint scanner for Pixel phones. This allows users to calibrate the sensor after replacing a damaged screen on their own.
The Mountain View-based tech titan also offers replacement parts, tools, and repair guides for Pixel devices in partnership with iFixit. In the new podcast, Nickle talked about Google’s vision for the repairability of its phones. The company aims to design products to be repairable from the start like it does for case use. A Google executive recently said that cases cannot be an afterthought and should be part of the design process.
Nickle shared how “engineers love glue” but “repair technicians hate glue.” For devices to be repairable, things have to change at the engineering level. Google is committed to reducing the amount of glue used to seal Pixel phones. The company is improving its design process iteratively with each new product. It has a “Design for Serviceability Scorecard” to evaluate the repairability of products and the score goes up with each product.
The ultimate goal is to make everyone capable of repairing the device they use. For that to happen, the repair tools should be readily accessible. To replace a screen, you currently need tools like a heat gun, a suction cup, a plastic pick, and a spudger. While they are fairly affordable, you are unlikely to have them lying around in your kitchen drawer. Google wants to make repair possible without requiring these special tools.
Repair programs should be available everywhere
Google doesn’t like the idea of keeping repair programs limited to markets where the devices are manufactured. “It was pretty common back then, and still is, for manufacturers to want to do repair where [the devices] are manufactured,” said Nickel. “That never made sense to us.” Google certainly doesn’t restrict Pixel repairs to the parts of the world where they are made. You can listen to the full podcast here.