Samsung Galaxy S4 Teardown – Inside the Next Samsung Flagship Phone:
video teardown:
It’s no secret that the battle for Android supremacy will now be fought between two smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One and while there’s no denying that the HTC One is probably the best-smartphone ever built, but that hinders the repairability to a large extent, withiFixit terming the device as almost impossible to repair.
Though we are still waiting for iFixit’s verdict on the HTC One, but the folks over atTechnoBuffalo seem to have got the device before everyone else and they decided to quickly tear it down. You’ll be happy to know that unlike the HTC One, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is “incredibly easy” to fix and it’s even easier to repair than it’s predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S3.
Samsung’s Galaxy S4 is about to take the world by storm. Such a storm, in fact, that some analysts are already calling for 10 million Galaxy S4 device shipments during the first month it’s on sale. There’s no doubt it’s going to be a popular device, but is it one that you should pick up? Quite possibly, especially if the teardown video we have here is any indication. Here’s why: the Galaxy S4 and the HTC One are about to become the hottest Android handsets on the market, but we already know from a different teardown that the HTC One will be terribly hard to fix. So what about the Samsung Galaxy S4? That’s where we come in to play.
A trusted source has already gotten their hands on a Galaxy S4 and has taken it apart for the world to see in a video they sent in. In the video above, and in the photos and captions below, you’ll see and read about all of the components inside the Galaxy S4. You’ll also get an idea of just how easy it is to replace parts, should they ever break in the future. Now we’ll walk you through each part of the teardown and explain what we’re looking at.
The frame is off! The Galaxy S4 requires that you remove 9 screws before you can separate the front and back of the phone. In the video you’ll note that, even with the screws removed, it takes a bit of prying to actually separate the two parts. That’s good news; it means the phone is well built and sturdy.
Here our source shows us the microUSB connector, which is visible at the very bottom of the screen and is very easy to replace. Also note the small white wire that plugs into the circuit board at the bottom of the phone: that’s the antenna and it runs up the right-hand side of the device to the top circuit board, where it’s also attached.
Now we’re getting a better look at the top of the phone and the components in that half. The 13-megapixel camera module is visible as is the single LED flash, the microSD card slot and the SIM tray. Note the aforementioned white antenna wire at the bottom right-hand side of the photo. The screen (on the other side of the phone) is also plugged in to that orange clip you see on the top right.
The module has been removed, and we’re looking at the part of the phone between the display and the hardware. This is where all the silicon rests and is protected (note the padding). You can also see the screen has been unhooked at this stage (the metal clasp on the right-hand side is removed).
This is the backside of the silicon that sports the camera module, SIM card slot and microSD slot. We can see there’s 2GB of RAM and a Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-core processor clocked at 1.9GHz, which means this is the U.S. variant as opposed to the Exynos Octa model that will ship overseas. It’s unclear how much flash storage this model has (it will ship in 16GB/32GB/64GB options), but we can see the internal RAM, too. We know we’re looking at the Wi-Fi module and other receivers here, although we can’t call them out specifically by name without a closer look.
Still, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is probably one of the most easily repairable smartphones according to the website. Thus, if you’re planning to buy one for yourself, you’d be quite relieved to know no matter how big a screw-up you manage to do with your device, the guys at the service center won’t have much trouble repairing it for you.
Post a Comment Facebook Disqus