iPhone 16 most easily repairable iPhone in ages - Samsung and Google to follow in Apple’s footsteps?

This makes iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus’ score of 7/10 a huge improvement - and it’s all thanks to the easily removable battery and Apple’s decision to put an end to the whole part pairing thing - apart from Face ID - supposedly due to security reasons.

Improved reparability might be the biggest iPhone 16 selling point that no one is talking about - but the iPhone 16 Pro models aren’t as easily repairable

Why is that little detail about the new method of removing the battery of your iPhone 16 so important? Well, in 3-4 years time when it doesn’t last as long as it used to, you’d be able to replace the battery of your iPhone 16 in no more than 5-10 minutes, using accessible tools.

This move makes the iPhone 16 series some of the most easily repairable mainstream phones, which should push big players like Samsung, Google, and all Chinese phone-makers to level up their repairability game ASAP.

Apple is known as the trendsetter in the smartphone industry - the latest proof of that are the various versions of the Camera Control buttons expected to start showing up in Android phones as soon as this year.



Although it might sound like a boring aspect of phone-making, repairability plays a massive role in how durable and long-lasting a phone is.

This is especially important because recent trends show that people like keeping their expensive phones for longer than before. And while a phone with a 1-2 year old battery should still be in a good enough condition to last a whole day, this certainly wouldn’t be the case with a 3-5 year old phone.

Hence, the idea of taking 5 minutes to swap out your battery and make your phone last as long as on day one sounds extremely appealing. For instance, some members of my family are currently using 4-5 year old phones like the Galaxy S9, and the main reason they need new phones is battery life.

Yes, you can swap out your iPhone 16's battery in a few minutes but Apple, Samsung, and Google still have a long way to go

With all that in mind, iPhone 16 is still far from being an easily-repairable phone when not examined in isolation.

That’s because some of HMD’s latest mid-range phones like the HMD Skyline give you access to the back of your phone by removing a single screw.

Ironically, HMD has glued the battery of the Skyline to the back of the phone just like on the iPhone 16 Pro models, which makes the whole effort to make the back removable pretty confusing.

In other words, Apple still has a long way to go before being able to proudly claim their phones are truly easy to repair.

• Apart from that, how about moving on from using glass backs to hard plastic or metal ones?

• Opening up your iPhone still requires external tools (not provided in the box) - glued parts should make way to something better

• Some spare parts like displays and glass backs are incredibly expensive, making some repairs costlier than buying a new mid-range phone; big players can take note from HMD - the company sells spare parts on the cheap compared to the like of Apple, Samsung, and Google