“ Amazon’s biggest rival in the e-reader space has formed an official partnership with iFixit to provide repair kits and guides for its latest models. The Kobo Libra Colour and Clara are designed to be opened and repaired. “
https://www.androidauthority.com/amazon-kindle-2026-3657863/
I’m not saying there’s anything untoward here, but at what point do we start looking at these partnerships and start to wonder if it affects the repairability ratings?
HMD partnered with iFixit and created a very repairable phone… Except in the software realm, where the bootloader is locked, it’s still on Android 15, and allegedly the next major update will be its last (giving it a shorter security shelf life than a glued-up Samsung).
I think it’s worth being clear about the scope of the rating. iFixit has always been about repairability defined by parts availability, and its ratings consider software restrictions only to the point where it interferes with the user experience when replacing parts to restore things to the original performance.
Customizability (in software or otherwise) isn’t part of the score. Durability/longevity isn’t part of the score, either. Those are things that I want, too, but I can recognize those are outside the scope of what iFixit advocates for.
I do have some concerns about the partnerships creating a conflict of interest, but sometimes that feedback loop is helpful for improving the product, where the maintainer of a standard also has a consulting business in helping others meet that standard. Ideally there’s a wall between the two sides (advisors versus raters), but the mere fact that one company might do both things isn’t that big of a deal in itself.
You can buy some parts for the steamdeck but not the mainboard despite them claiming you could buy every part when they announced the partnership. iFixit has been getting just a littttttle bit sus honestly
I’m not saying there’s anything untoward here, but at what point do we start looking at these partnerships and start to wonder if it affects the repairability ratings?
HMD partnered with iFixit and created a very repairable phone… Except in the software realm, where the bootloader is locked, it’s still on Android 15, and allegedly the next major update will be its last (giving it a shorter security shelf life than a glued-up Samsung).
I think it’s worth being clear about the scope of the rating. iFixit has always been about repairability defined by parts availability, and its ratings consider software restrictions only to the point where it interferes with the user experience when replacing parts to restore things to the original performance.
Customizability (in software or otherwise) isn’t part of the score. Durability/longevity isn’t part of the score, either. Those are things that I want, too, but I can recognize those are outside the scope of what iFixit advocates for.
I do have some concerns about the partnerships creating a conflict of interest, but sometimes that feedback loop is helpful for improving the product, where the maintainer of a standard also has a consulting business in helping others meet that standard. Ideally there’s a wall between the two sides (advisors versus raters), but the mere fact that one company might do both things isn’t that big of a deal in itself.
You can buy some parts for the steamdeck but not the mainboard despite them claiming you could buy every part when they announced the partnership. iFixit has been getting just a littttttle bit sus honestly