The folks over at iFixit have published their teardown report of the Galaxy Note 7 that coincides with the device going on sale in the United States. Compared to the Galaxy S7 that got a repairability score of 3 out of 10, the Note 7 does marginally better and got a repairability score of 4.
iFixit notes in its teardown that most of the innards of the Note 7 are modular in nature, which means that they can be replaced independently. And thanks to the improved cable routing from Samsung, the Note 7’s USB Type-C board can be removed without having to take out the display.
The team also notes that the Note 7 shares many of the same components and ICs that Samsung had first used on the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge. This includes the rear 12MP Sony IMX260 camera sensor, the flash memory chip, NFC controller, and more. Samsung has made some improvements to its waterproofing technique as well, as iFixit notes that its implementation on the Note 7 does not hinder its repairability much.
In the end though, for any repair work that you will want to carry out on your Note 7, you will first have to pry open the rear Gorilla Glass 5 of the device which will require the use of a heat gun. Since Samsung has used copious amount of glue, this is a particularly tough task and there is a possibility that you will just end up cracking it. And just like the Galaxy S7 edge, the glass in the front cannot be replaced without destroying the curved screen.
[Via iFixit]