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Video Overview

This teardown is not a repair guide. To repair your Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus, use our service manual.

  1. Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown, Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 1, image 1 of 3 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown, Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 1, image 2 of 3 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown, Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 1, image 3 of 3
    • You've seen the slick exterior of the S8+ in Samsung's promotional imagery, but we're going deeper. A few of this teardown's expected waypoints include:

    • 6.2-inch, dual-edge, Super AMOLED display with 2960 × 1440 resolution (529 ppi)

    • Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 (or Samsung Exynos 8895) processor, with 4 GB RAM

    • 12-megapixel rear camera with dual pixel autofocus and 4K video capture; 8-megapixel selfie camera

    • 64 GB internal storage, expandable via MicroSD card (up to 256 GB additional)

    • IP68 water resistance rating

    • Android 7.0 Nougat

  2. Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 2, image 1 of 2 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 2, image 2 of 2
    • Ports on the bottom include a headphone jack, USB-C connector, microphone port, and speaker grille.

    • The front face is smooth and very nearly featureless—the physical home button has been replaced by a pressure sensor that lives under the display, making this a truly monolithic device.

    • Meanwhile, the fingerprint reader has been moved to an awkward new home on the rear. Apparently Samsung found an easier solution than Apple's rumored in-screen sensor.

    • Lastly, frequent SIM-swappers take note: there are two nigh-identical openings in the top of the S8+. One is for your SIM eject tool, and the other houses a microphone. Don't mix those up.

  3. Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 3, image 1 of 2 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 3, image 2 of 2
    • Time for a few quick comparisons before we get down to brass tacks.

    • In the three-fer, we've got the S7 Edge on the left, S8+ in the center, and S8 on the right.

    • Thanks to its thinner bezels and unusual 18.5:9 aspect ratio, the S8+ manages to pack a 6.2" display in about the same form factor as the 5.5" S7 Edge.

    • Stacked against last year's offerings, the only noteworthy difference is the migrating flash assembly and relocated fingerprint reader.

  4. Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 4, image 1 of 3 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 4, image 2 of 3 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 4, image 3 of 3
    Tool used on this step:
    iOpener
    $19.99
    Buy
    • Enough delay—we're eager to see inside. Luckily, by now we know the drill.

    • This isn't our first time opening a Galaxy phone.

    • Plenty of heat from our iOpener softens the adhesive enough to pry the rear glass up and start battling our way in.

    • We're definitely making it look easy here—Samsung made opening this phone the hardest part of any repair. For the unabridged version, check out our S7 repair video guide.

    • And we're almost in...

  5. Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 5, image 1 of 3 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 5, image 2 of 3 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 5, image 3 of 3
    • ...But for all our talk, this rear panel does present something new. The fingerprint reader lives in the rear panel, with a very short cable tying it to the motherboard.

    • It looks like Samsung designed this cable to safely pull free with the rear panel. With almost no slack in the cable, the gentlest lift of the panel yanks the cable right out from its tiny pop connector. This makes it decidedly less damage-prone than certain fingerprint sensor cables we've seen before.

    • Cable dispatched, and we've got the glass out of the way. The S8+ and S8 follow the S6's move to a glass rear panel. This design has saved Samsung the engineering effort that goes into integrating antennas into a metal-backed phone, at the cost of durability and repairability.

    • Twice the crackability and a heck of an opening procedure won't help when it's time to score the repairability.

  6. Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 6, image 1 of 3 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 6, image 2 of 3 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 6, image 3 of 3
    • We would have liked to start by disconnecting the battery, but its connector lies trapped beneath the midframe.

    • With the midframe coming out in pieces, things are looking very similar to the S7 and S7 Edge.

    • This time the upper antenna assembly is combined with the NFC/wireless charging panel, like on the Note7.

    • The coil should also perform Samsung Pay functions, duplicating MST—presumably using the coil as an electromagnet to act as a credit card strip would on a card reader.

  7. Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 7, image 1 of 3 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 7, image 2 of 3 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 7, image 3 of 3
    • Let's hope that Samsung's improved testing procedures are what the Note7 was missing, because this design looks about the same to us.

    • And it's still a bear to pry it off that adhesive. Even with the battery fully removed, the glue won't let go.

    • The S8+ features a 13.48 Wh (3500 mAh at 3.85 V) battery—the exact same capacity as the Note7, and a little less than the S7 Edge's 13.86 Wh.

    • Samsung continues to beat Apple in the battery capacity wars, with the iPhone 7+ weighing in at 11.1 Wh (2900 mAh at 3.82 V).

    • However, the iPhone may make better use of its smaller battery, outlasting the S8+ in use testing.

  8. Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 8, image 1 of 3 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 8, image 2 of 3 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 8, image 3 of 3
  9. Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 9, image 1 of 1
    • We push the cameras off to the side in order to pore over this motherboard's silicon. Our findings include:

    • Samsung K3UH5H50MM-NGCJ 4 GB LPDDR4 RAM layered over the MSM8998 Snapdragon 835

    • Toshiba THGAF4G9N4LBAIR 64 GB UFS (NAND flash + controller)

    • Qualcomm Aqstic WCD9341 audio codec

    • Skyworks SKY78160-11 front-end module w/ LNA

    • Avago AFEM-9066 front-end module

    • Qualcomm QET4100 envelope tracker

    • Silicon Mitus SM5720 Interface PMIC

  10. Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 10, image 1 of 1
    • And on the reverse side:

    • Qualcomm WTR5975 RF transceiver

    • Murata KM7118064 Wi-Fi module

    • Avago AFEM-9053 front-end module

    • Qualcomm PM8998 (similar to PMM8920) power management

    • NXP PN80T NFC controller w/ secure element

    • Renesas (formerly IDT) P9320S wireless charging receiver

    • Likely Knowles MEMS microphone

  11. Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 11, image 1 of 2 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 11, image 2 of 2
    • IC Identifications, pt. 2:

    • Qualcomm ? D5320 high-band diversity IC (likely)

    • Maxim Integrated MAX98506 audio amplifier

    • Qualcomm PM8005 ? power management

    • Maxim Integrated MAX77838 power management

    • Samsung S2MPB02 camera power management

    • Samsung S2MM005X02 USB power delivery controller (likely)

    • Samsung S5475S2 ? camera processor (likely)

  12. Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 12, image 1 of 2 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 12, image 2 of 2
    • IC Identifications, pt. 3:

    • NXP Semiconductor PCAL6524 24-bit I/O expander

    • ON Semiconductor FPF3688UCX load switch (likely)

    • ON Semiconductor FAN48630UC35X 1.5 A synchronous regulator

    • Vishay DG2730 2 port, 480 Mbps DPDT USB 2.0 analog switch

    • NXP Semiconductor NCX2200 comparator

    • ON Semiconductor FXLA0104QFX 4-bit voltage translator

    • Probably some low/mid-band front-end modules

  13. Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 13, image 1 of 2 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 13, image 2 of 2
    • IC Identifications, pt. 4 (sensors):

    • STMicroelectronics LSM6DSL 3-axis accelerometer/gyroscope (assumption)

    • STMicroelectronics LPS22HB Pressure Sensor

    • AKM Semiconductor AK09916C 3-axis electronic compass

    • Ablic (formerly Seiko Instruments) S-5712CCDL1-I4T1U Hall Effect Sensor (assumption)

    • Analog Devices ? Heart Rate Sensor

  14. Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 14, image 1 of 3 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 14, image 2 of 3 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 14, image 3 of 3
    • We extract the I/O daughterboard. There's lots of ingress proofing in evidence here, including the speaker grille surround and the tiny seals on the USB Type-C connector and headphone jack—all part of that IP68 rating.

    • The headphone jack itself remains a modular affair—good news for repairability, as this is a high-wear component.

    • This daughterboard also houses some antenna tuners and likely a Semtech SX9320 proximity sensor.

  15. Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 15, image 1 of 3 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 15, image 2 of 3 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 15, image 3 of 3
    • After a peek at the heat pipe and contact pad button cables, we extract a few more bits from the chassis.

    • Out comes ye olde vibrator motor.

    • Also the nifty sensor array (with moisture indicator):

    • RGB LED (probably)

    • IR emitter (for the iris scanning camera, maybe)

    • Likely AMS TMD4906 rangefinder/color sensor module (probably) for dimming the screen during calls.

  16. Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 16, image 1 of 3 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 16, image 2 of 3 Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 16, image 3 of 3
    • On a hunt for the mysterious home not-button, we dig into the display despite previous... difficulties.

    • Luckily this fused display/digitizer peels up from its frame with a decent struggle, but no damage.

    • Hoping to find some hidden detail under the display cabling, we peel it up and find—zilch. No model info and no visible pressure sensor. Better luck next time.

    • We did, however unearth some chips!

    • Samsung S6E3HA6 display driver

    • STMicroelectronics fingertip touchscreen controller

    • Winbond W25Q80EWUXIE 8 Mb serial NOR flash memory

  17. Samsung Galaxy S8+ Teardown: step 17, image 1 of 1
    • That's it for the S8+. If you're still hungry for more teardown, warp on over to our analysis of the standard Galaxy S8.

    • Meanwhile, it's time to give this phone a score.

  18. Final Thoughts
    • Many components are modular and can be replaced independently.
    • The battery can be replaced, but tough adhesive and a glued-on rear panel make it unnecessarily difficult.
    • Front and back glass make for double the crackability, and strong adhesive on both makes it tough to access the internals for any repair.
    • Because of the curved screen, replacing the front glass without destroying the display is extremely difficult.
    Repairability Score
    4
    Repairability 4 out of 10
    (10 is easiest to repair)

32 Comments

Hi: the breakdown exercise did you get a positive id on who is providing the USB-C controller chip? Thx!

Chitra Sundaram - Reply

I don't like glue on the battery and its not just that its the same capacity as we already see on the Samsung Galaxy S7 its kinda sad.

Janko Castvan - Reply

Why I'll always pass on these phones, that and the sorry state of Android's update system and all the stupid OEM's making their own version of Android.

Gaj B - Reply

The Galaxy Note 5 and S6 are getting Nougat. Phones from 2015... Many people upgrade after 2 years.

djlobb01 -

Man i now i will probably wait for one plus 5 or next google device because these two have big support on XDA community and they have regulari updates.

Janko Castvan - Reply

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