OnePlus 6 Teardown Shows That Glass Ruins Everything

iFixit has wasted little time in tearing down yet another flagship phone: the OnePlus 6. US orders for the OnePlus 6 opened only yesterday, and a mere 24 hours later, iFixit is getting its hands dirty and telling us just how easy it is to repair the phone as a DIY project. As with most phones iFixit takes a look at these days, its findings are both good and bad.

The surprises start early with this teardown, as iFixit discovers that the OnePlus 6's glass back is actually easier to remove than similar backs are on other phones. This is all thanks to a fingerprint sensor cable long enough to allow you to lift the back off entirely without worrying about tearing it. At the end of the day, you're still dealing with frustrating task of removing a glass back from the phone, but the length of this cable means there isn't as high a potential for collateral damage.

The battery is also fairly easy to remove, as iFixit notes that not only is it accessible, but it's only lightly adhered in place. If you're planning to use the OnePlus 6 as your main device for a while then, replacing the battery should be at least somewhat easy, provided you've got the equipment needed to lift the glass back off of its housing (and you're okay with potentially cracking it during the removal process).

Getting to the motherboard required removing 10 screws from the antenna frame, one of which was hidden behind the water damage indicator. The good news, however, is that all of the screws used are standard Phillips screws, which makes removal a lot easier. iFixit also found evidence of waterproofing as it was performing this teardown – as OnePlus isn't really advertising waterproofing as a feature of the OnePlus 6, it's probably not a good idea to expose it to too much water, but it's nice to see that there is some protection in place.

While iFixit's teardown has a lot of positive aspects to it, the phone's OLED display proves to be a hassle to remove. In fact, OnePlus has used so much glue in securing the display to the frame that you probably won't be removing it without damaging it. Considering that screen replacement is one of the most common DIY repairs, that isn't a happy realization.

At the end of it all, iFixit gives the OnePlus 6 a repairability score of 5 out of 10. The OnePlus 6 earns marks for its easy to remove battery, its modular design, and the fact that most everything is secured in place with Phillips screws, but loses points because of its glass front and back and the difficulty in removing them. Be sure to read iFixit's full teardown, as there were a lot of interesting discoveries throughout.