Samsung’s latest Galaxy S26 Ultra has already arrived in the hands of reviewers and early customers, and we gave the smartphone a review score of 4/5 ourselves. We’ve already learned a lot about the new flagship, but one long-term question we still have is how the hardware will hold up over time (and how easy it will be to fix if it breaks). The brand’s excellent seven-year-old Android OS update promise is sure to be kept, and the hardware should be durable and repairable enough to keep up.
iFixit shed some light on the repairability of the Galaxy S26 Ultra with its official teardown video, posted on YouTube today. The disassembly, which ends in a repairability score, was mixed. There were some notable wins for Samsung and Galaxy S26 Ultra buyers, plus some baffling decisions. In total, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is still behind Apple and Google flagships in terms of repairability.
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Easy-to-replace battery and USB-C highlights are wins
Battery repairs are the most important for any rechargeable device. Batteries are consumable components that degrade over time, so if you use a phone for a long time, you will eventually need to replace the battery. Therefore, if there is one smartphone repair that should be easy, it is the battery. iFixit found that the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s battery is surprisingly easy to change after removing the back panel of the phone and removing the bottom speaker assembly.
Releasing the speaker shows the cables necessary to disconnect the battery. Once this is done, the Galaxy S26 Ultra battery replacement process seems to be seamless. iFixit praised the battery release mechanism used here, which features a glue-coated plastic hug. When you remove the battery and plastic tab, the glue comes off easily.
The USB-C port was equally easy to disassemble, and that’s ideal because it’s another component that’s subject to constant wear and tear over time. iFixit found that the port is modular, just like on other recent Galaxy phones, making it easy to swap.
The screen and other complex parts are not that interesting
The disassembly process became complicated when the iFixit team attempted to remove the screen. For starters, the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s selfie camera is very attached to the screen assembly, making it difficult to remove. After moving on to the screen, iFixit used extremely high heat and a suction cup to try to dislodge the screen.
The screen itself ended up separating due to force before it could be removed, highlighting the complicated repair process that will be difficult to perform even for experienced technicians. Even after the screen came apart, iFixit still required a heat gun and a lot of elbow grease to free it from the chassis.
Due to the complexity of Galaxy S26 Ultra selfie camera and screen replacements, it is not a simple repair. The phone only opens in one direction, so the repairman must remove the back panel and move towards the screen to replace it. As such, people who need a full screen or selfie camera replacement might not think the repair process or cost is worth it.
Samsung is falling behind Apple and Google in repairability
Finally, for the score. iFixit gave the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra a score of 5/10 in its smartphone repairability score, with the smartphone losing out to recent releases from Apple and Google. He Google Pixel 10 scored 6/10, while the iPhone 17 scored 7/10. The iFixit team cited the screen removal process and lack of reliable parts and repair manuals as some of the reasons why Samsung isn’t up to par.
iFixit cites the difficulty of finding repair parts on Samsung’s official store, which often features cryptic model numbers without descriptive text or images. By comparison, Apple’s self-service repair store makes it easy to find parts, rent tools, and access official repair manuals. Google partnered with iFixit itself to sell official Pixel parts and create repair guides. Despite everything that has been said about Apple or Google’s repairability problems in the past, both companies have made strong strides in recent years.
So where is Samsung in all this? For now, just sitting on the sidelines. While it continues to innovate in other ways, like the Flex Magic Pixel OLED that powers the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s privacy screen, it just doesn’t cut it on the repairability front. Based on the results of iFixit’s teardown, I think we can expect more from a $1,300 flagship.
The latest and the best
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra will be covered with seven years of full support for the Android operating system, but will the hardware last that long? The iFixit teardown is good news on the battery front, although everything else seems to be up in the air.
