Mo’ features, mo’ problems. We’ve got a double Samsung Galaxy teardown for you, and while the package may look different, we found many familiar foibles in these non-folding phones.
Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10e Teardown
Dual teardown of the Samsung Galaxy S10 and Samsung Galaxy S10e on March 5, 2019.
The new Galaxies deliver on iterative specs and standout new technology: in-screen fingerprint reading and reverse wireless charging. But the phone’s foundation isn’t holding up well to these new-fangled ideas. That fancy fingerprint sensor is baked into the screen, making one of the most common repairs a pricey nightmare. The ability to charge other devices generates a ton of heat, requiring an impressive heat-absorption redesign and degrading the still-glued-in battery. It’s a shame to see so much innovation go into hardware that, in the end, is still treated as disposable. Someday a more radical redesign may grace our teardown table, but for now we’d settle for some pull tabs on these short-lived batteries.
Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10e Teardown Highlights:
- The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor in the S10 and S10+ is pretty much fused to the display. So if that breaks, you’ll be replacing the entire screen with it. And while the S10e still uses old-school capacitive fingerprint tech in the power button, it too requires risking the display to replace.
- Due to a motherboard-mounted USB-C port, a lot of breakable glass, and a stubbornly-glued battery, Samsung’s Galaxy S10 and S10e each earn a 3 out of 10 on our repairability scale.
- But wait—we also tore down the S10+! Our X-ray survey was obscured by its dense ceramic backplate, so we had to tear it down to figure out what was going on in there.
0 Comments