The retrofuturistic and folding version of the classic Razr from Motorola, which SAPO TEK has already tried at CES, recently arrived on the North American market. After failing the Foldbot event, failing to be folded and unfolded more than 27,000 times, the Razr underwent yet another testing session, this time in the hands of the iFixit experts.
As usual, iFixit asked for Creative Electron help in order to understand what mysteries are inside the smartphone even before leaving for its disassembly. With tools at the ready, experts began by removing the Razr's back cover.
The process was marked by a lot of glue and sensitive components, such as the fingerprint sensor cable, which could go unnoticed by the eyes of the most unwary DIY enthusiasts. With the back covers removed, technicians were able to observe in detail the configuration of the two smartphone batteries. After removing some screws, the first battery was removed successfully, giving access to the motherboard.
The headache came even when removing the foldable OLED display, which required a series of careful maneuvers. Even so, and to the technicians' surprise, the second battery was at the rear of the screen, something that could jeopardize it and expose it to additional risks.
For iFixit, the Motorola Razr wins the "prize" in the most complicated smartphone category to disassemble. Although the smartphone's interior and exterior engineering level is impressive, the truth is that the device is not surprising when it comes to its repairability. In addition, platform technicians hope that as foldable smartphones become increasingly popular, manufacturers will be able to find ways to make them not only more resistant, but also easier to repair.
The Razr stands out for the negative due to the vast amount of glue that exists, the removal of the batteries implies an almost total disassembly of the smartphone and the equipment is full of small traps inside, whose complex construction makes it difficult to access certain components . The whole experience is reflected in the final score of 1 in 10 on the iFixit repairability scale.
