14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has recently started shipping the Surface Duo dual-screen Android device, and needless to say, many rushed to buy one to see what the software giant’s return to the mobile market is all about.
With a $1,399 starting price tag, it goes without saying that the Surface Duo isn’t a really affordable device, and many people have wondered just how easy it is to fix given how much it costs.
As it turns out, not really easy, as the folks over at iFixit have performed their typical teardown to figure out how hard it is to replace a broken component in the Surface Duo.
First and foremost, the Duo has received a repairability score of just 2 out of 10, with 10 being the easiest to repair. In other words, the Surface Duo isn’t impossible to repair but is pretty close to this point.
The good news is that replacing the displays and the back glass covers is piece of cake, and hats off to Microsoft for making it possible. A shattered display is very often the biggest problem on smartphones these days, so installing new ones on the Surface Duo can be down without removing other components.
Plenty of glue
On the other hand, not the same thing can be said about the rest of the parts. The batteries are glued and installing new ones comes down to disassembling most of the components, while the USB-C port is soldered directly to the motherboard.
In typical Apple fashion, Microsoft has used a tri-point screw design that isn’t at all that common, so special tools would be needed to remove key components. And of course, the Redmond-based software giant used a great amount of glue all over the place.
At the end of the day, you’d better hope the Surface Duo won’t need any repairs, as there’s a chance that a full replacement is the right way to go rather than hardware fixes.
