Thanks to the guys at iFixit and their absolutely astonishingly fast teardown of the new Google HTC Nexus 9, we already know quite a bit about the new tablet. The image you see above is actually the final image of their Nexus 9 teardown, showing all of the parts of the Nexus 9 individually. In the teardown, we find out some really interesting things about the tablet that may have been suspected but weren’t confirmed unless someone had torn it down.

One thing that was expected was that HTC included a 3.8 V, 6700 mAh, and 25.46 Wh battery, meeting the specs that HTC stated on their spec sheet. This makes it smaller than the iPad Air 2, but larger than the iPad Mini Retina. They also confirmed that the camera is an 8MP f/2.4 module that is the same as the one as the HTC Desire 610.

On the mainboard itself, iFixit was able to find exactly which version of the Tegra K1 that the Nexus 9 features, which is the dual core Denver 64-bit variant. This variant is labelled as a T4K885 01P TD590D-A3, meaning that this is A3 revision silicon and that Nvidia is without a doubt well into production silicon. The Nexus 9 also uses Elpida (now Micron) RAM, Samsung NAND flash, Broadcom BCM4354 MIMO 5G Wi-Fi module and a Broadcom BCM4752 GNSS receiver to complement whatever GPS is probably already in the Tegra K1.

There’s also an Asahi Kasei 3-axis compass, dual speakers and Synaptics touch controller as the rest of the components on the Nexus 9. Overall, iFixit gave the Nexus 9 a fairly poor teardown score of a 3 (as many HTC devices have gotten lately). The reason for the poor repairability score is because of the difficulty of removing the battery (which was glued on) and the fact that the LCD panel is fused to the glass of the display which makes repairing a cracked screen more difficult and costly.

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After years of making plastic phones, Samsung ( KRX:005935)  decided to make the switch to metal with the Galaxy Alpha. The device has a lot of points in its favor, which include a metal frame around the sides of the device, as well as high-end hardware and a small form factor.

Touted to be Samsung’s answer to the iPhone, the Galaxy Alpha is 0.2 mm thinner than Apple’s offering. While the external design of the Alpha clearly draws a lot of parallels with the iPhone 6, both devices differ vastly when it comes to the hardware itself. For one thing, the Galaxy Alpha features a back cover and battery that are easily removable.

As for gaining access to the internal hardware, iFixit found in its Galaxy Alpha teardown that the device comes with the same sandwich layered design as the Galaxy S5, which involves removing the display to get to the internal components. The back of the device does feature screws that secure the midframe, but the section itself is removable only from the front. What this essentially means is that to get to the motherboard, you have to remove the display assembly, a feat that requires considerable effort due to all the adhesive.

The assembly itself on the Galaxy Alpha at 1.4 mm was found to be half the width of the panel on the iPhone 6. Another interesting feature discovered during the Galaxy Alpha teardown was that the inclusion of a gasket around the headphone jack, which is usually seen on devices that offer water resistance, like the Galaxy S5. It is likely that Samsung was going to offer a similar resistance to dust and water, but had a change of mind mid-way. As far as the hardware is concerned, the device features an Exynos 5430 SoC, a touchscreen controller from STMicroelectronics, a Wolfson WM5110E low power HD audio chipset and more:

• Intel PMB9933 P10 DS XG726G H1429 F429A549
• Maxim Integrated MAX77804K (System PSoC)
• Broadcom BCM4753IA
• Wolfson Microelectronics WM5110E Low Power Audio System
• RF Micro Devices RF8095 F14N6GS
• Skyworks 7851 0268
• Intel PMB5747
• Samsung S2MPS13 Power Management IC
• SWKT GRG78 Antenna Switch Module
• SKC TI 45I AHCX
• 04424 02163 S3FWRN S42403

The Galaxy Alpha teardown resulted in the device getting a final score of 5 out of 10 on iFixit’s scale, with high points for user removable battery and modular components. However, addressing minor issues – like changing the connector on the home button – requires the removal of the display assembly, which can complicate things further.

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iFixit recently tore down Amazon’s supposedly wildly innovative phone. However, they actually had quite a hard time tearing it down. The only phone that beats the Amazon Fire Phone in terms of unrepairability is the HTC One M8. That phone scored a lowly 2 in terms of repairability, but even so, Samsung’s lowest scoring phone (The Galaxy S5) still managed a score of a 5. Repairability will determine how expensive repairs for your phone will cost and whether or not you can do them yourself. On certain phones, some components are simply too bonded together or impossible to take apart and as a result, get pretty poor scores.

Even though the Amazon Fire Phone isn’t necessarily that technologically unique of a phone, Amazon has managed to make it almost as unrepairable as HTC’s. However, HTC’s phones are not as hyped as Amazon’s in terms of features and unique features. Some of these features, however, are partially attributing to the phone’s unrepairability score.

As iFixit states, the four dynamic perspective cameras are actually encased in glue, which means that any sort of replacement of them will require heat and cutting. In addition to this, a replacement display would likely need to include those four cameras, which would make replacing the display outrageously expensive. If the cameras are not replaced, but rather transferred, the amount of work to do so will also be expensive and tedious. They also say that the plethora of cables and connectors make disassembly tedious and reassembly difficult. iFixit also says that the Amazon Fire Phone is not modular and as a result many components share the same cables, which increases the cost of replacement parts.

Now, repairability may not be a factor for everyone buying a phone, but it is worth noting or at least knowing when buying the phone. The Amazon Fire Phone will likely fail, as we had suspected it would primarily because most of its features are gimmicky or encourage Amazon product consumption, without anything in return. Amazon’s pricing and placement of this phone (AT&T) are ultimately going to be what dooms it, until they drop the price. I don’t particularly see them being very successful with it unless its free on contract. And even then, the likelihood that someone would go with this phone over an HTC One M8, Samsung Galaxy S5 or LG G3 is very small.

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