The LG G5 may not have garnered the lion's share of love from critics (or sales) in 2016, but it is the easiest phone to repair.
People who are good at the business of taking things apart and putting them back together again — iFixit — gave the G5 a repairability score of 8 on a 10 point scale in their 2016 roundup. They cite the removable back and battery and modular components — the circuit boards inside and not the outer modules in this case — as the reason why it's so easy to take the phone apart.
Things like standard screws and easy-to-remove screens also garner points in the judging, while excessive adhesive, soldered components and "complex opening procedures" make the process more difficult and result in a lower score.
The full results for 2016 were (in order):
- LG G5 (8/10)
- Pixel and Pixel XL (7/10)
- iPhone 7 and 7 plus (7/10)
- iPhone SE (6/10)
- Galaxy Note 7 (4/10)
- Galaxy S7 and S7 edge (3/10)
We won't suggest you take your phone apart and try any repairs yourself unless you know what you're doing, but if you have a G5 it's going to be a lot easier to do.
