Samsung Copies Everything Apple Does—But What About Repairability?

At this year’s Galaxy event, Samsung yet again launched a bunch of Apple knockoffs, some of them more shameless than ever. But while Samsung’s hardware and software don’t usually match up to the standards of the Apple Watch or the AirPods Pro, how do they compete on repairability?

Samsung announced updates to most of its Galaxy line, with a few new products thrown in. One, the Galaxy Ring smart ring, is something that has no Apple equivalent. Others, like the Galaxy Buds and the Galaxy Watch Ultra, are such blatant copies that you wonder how Samsung gets away with it. Those are the two that we’re going to compare with their Apple-made inspirations today, and we will throw in a Galaxy phone just because. 

Buds

Four years ago, we awarded the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live a repairability score of 8/10, which is pretty great for the true-wireless earbuds category. All batteries were easily accessibly and replaceable, and disassembly could be completed with common tools, like a Phillips screwdriver. Even the circuit boards were fairly modular, making it possible to replace parts by cannibalizing another broken set. 

The new Galaxy Buds3 shamelessly mimic the stemmed design of Apple’s AirPods, moving away from the blobular in-ear design of Samsung’s originals. When tearing them down, we we immediately worried that the shape wasn’t the only thing Samsung had copied. 

“What concerns me is that Samsung may have also copied the zero out of ten repairability score that we’ve seen on Apple’s AirPods,” says iFixit’s lead teardown technician Shahram Mokhtari in the video embedded above. 

And guess what? Samsung did the job right. Right, in that it copied Apple right down to the excessive use of glue. You’ll need a vise to get inside, or preferably a custom jig that can clamp the buds in place while you open them—gear that your average repair shop is unlikely to have on hand. Once inside, you’ll find that the batteries are glued in place, and once you manage to pry them free, you’ll have to desolder them from the connecting wires. It’s hardly the easy experience of swapping batteries in Fairphone’s Fairbuds. 

The shafts of the buds are packed with even more glue, which we had to dig out while constantly applying heat to soften it. So, while you can change the batteries, reassembling the units afterwards so they keep their IP57 dust and water-resistance rating is near impossible.

But like many of Samsung’s copies, it’s not quite there, which in this case is a good thing. The charging case actually turns out to be rather repairable. The outer case is held on by clips, not glue, and the entirety of its guts can be disassembled using a screwdriver. The battery is held in place by glue, but once you’ve gotten to it, it’s easy to pry it loose. Again, not as easy as the Fairbuds case, but still comparably excellent in this category, and also not enough to bring the total score above the 2/10 we finally awarded them. 

So how does this compare to the Apple originals? Well, the AirPods Pro 2 are so bad that even these unrepairable Samsung knockoffs are way better. It is possible to get into the AirPods Pro with enough heat and patience, and you can theoretically switch the battery, but good luck getting them back together again. And the charging case is so bad that we had to cut our way in, a dangerous and very much not recommended way to open up anything with a battery. The AirPods Pro 2 are so bad that Shahram called them “literally a dumpster fire waiting to happen.” So, 1-0 Samsung, I guess.

Watch Out

Chunky, rugged body? Check. Orange strap and matching orange accents on the case? Check. Recessed digital crown? Check! The Galaxy Watch Ultra is clearly “inspired” by the Apple Watch Ultra 2, right down to the “ultra” suffix in the name. Samsung has even taken its usual circular design and kind of squared it off to better match Apple’s high-end watch, although the actual screen remains round.

It’s not an exact copy of course, and many of the important details are missing. That crown doesn’t turn, for example, and it’s only rated for use in shallow water. On the other hand, the strap release mechanism is, according to Shahram, smoother and easier to use than Apple’s version, although it also looks to be less secure, as the button press completely releases the strap, whereas in Apple’s design, you also have to slide the strap sideways out of its slot.

Repairability-wise, though, Samsung is the winner. To open up the Apple Watch and get to the battery, you have to remove the delicate screen. With the Galaxy Watch Ultra, you can go through the back, removing the more durable sensor array, which is secured by tri-point screws and adhesive. Once inside, you can unclip the connectors, and remove the main board with just a Phillips screwdriver. Easy.

And then, the battery pops out on a supporting tray, instead of being totally encased like in the Apple Watch.

It’s not all good news. For example, that bezel around the screen is purely decorative, and needs to be removed before you can apply heat to the screen and soften the adhesive holding it in place. On the other hand, most of the internal components can be easily removed, although some are held in place with glue, rather than clips or screws. Altogether, this is enough to give is a provisional repairability score of 7/10, which is—so far—our best score for a smart watch. 

Apple’s rugged watch also has a few advantages. That fully-encased battery might be a more proprietary part, but it does protect the battery, and also means that the battery is secured without glue. Even so, it only manages a paltry 4/10.

To sum up, Samsung seems to do best on repairability when it doesn’t copy Apple. Every advantage it has in both the watch and the earbuds is down to doing things its own way. 

Whether that’s because it’s cheaper, or because Samsung is dedicated to repairability (LOL), we don’t know. But whatever the reason, we can clearly see that the closer Samsung copies Apple, the worse things get. This is most obvious in the switch to a more Apple-like stemmed design for the new Galaxy buds, which saw a huge drop from 8/10 to 2/10.

That alone is probably the most disappointing part of this whole story—that Samsung seems to be prioritizing looks and style over sustainable design. Which may, ironically, be the most Apple-like thing it has ever done.