Google has partnered with the online repair website iFixit to offer parts and repair kits to solve a number of device problems. Parts will be available to purchase “later this year,” Google says.
The self-repair kits are available to order online and cover all Pixel phones up to series 6. Users ordering the repair kits will get all the relevant replacement parts, along with the tools needed to fit them.
Instruction manuals are available on the iFixit website. Repair kits cover fixes such as replacements for the screen, rear cameras, batteries, and the charging assembly. For now, the repair kits are available to Pixel users in the US, UK, Australia, and EU countries where the Pixel line is available.
Google’s decision to open the phone’s up to self-repair comes after Apple launched its own self-repair platform with iFixit in April this year. Around the same time Samsung launched a similar service for Galaxy owners in the US.
Microsoft and Valve are also working with iFixit to offer spare parts for their Surface devices and Steam Deck, respectively.
Consumer electronics companies are under growing pressure to make their products more repairable on the back of a growing ‘right to repair’ movement among consumer groups and politicians amid concerns about sustainability in the face of climate change.