Samsung Self-Repair Program Expands To Galaxy S22, Galaxy Book Pro Laptops
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"Right to Repair" is a big idea with big consequences for consumers across the technology marketplace. The degree to which a buyer of a piece of equipment can fix, alter, and otherwise futz with what they've bought can be a surprisingly fraught question. Customers tend to want to repair and alter their property however they please, while manufacturers prefer to monetize those repairs, making customers use in-house support services. That conflict has led to legal action more than once, but as of yet there's no firm nationwide standard set by U.S. law.
In terms of corporate culture, Samsung has tended to sit on the fence regarding the right to repair. It has never been as hardline as, say, Tesla, which actively discourages any third-party repairs of its products. At the same time, Samsung models its smartphones and other technology on a proprietary build of Google's open-source Android operating system, deliberately limiting customers' ability to make hardware and software changes to their products (via MakeUseOf).
A recent announcement, however, suggests Samsung may be choosing a side, at least for several of their most popular devices. Here's what we know.
More devices, more freedom, more possibilities
Samsung announced on Jan. 17 that it would be adding five new devices to its "Samsung Self-Repair" program: the Galaxy Book Pro and Pro 360, plus the S22 smartphone family, including the S22 itself, the S22+, and S22 Ultra.
"Samsung Self-Repair" is a right-to-repair commitment that Samsung made in March 2022, which extended to the U.S. in August of that year (via PetaPixel). Created in conjunction with iFixit, one of the world's most active technology repair communities and a strong voice for the consumer right to repair, "Self-Repair" represents a major commitment by Samsung to allow users to service and modify their devices themselves, at least while under the device's warranty. Already available on the S7 family of devices among others, Samsung choosing to extend "Self-Repair" to its most recent phone and PC models shows a clear commitment to consumer right to repair going forward.
Per this announcement, Samsung's self-repair kits for the S22 phone family and Galaxy Book PCs are available for purchase. The press release stipulates that kits will include the case front, case rear, display, battery, touchpad, power key with fingerprint reader, and rubber foot for each machine. Online instructions for repairs of Samsung devices are already available through iFixit.