Motorola Gets DIY Fix-Friendly With iFixit Partnership
This week Motorola became the first smartphone manufacturer to supply OEM parts to iFixit. This is a move that's more important than its immediate result. Providing parts to iFixit means Motorola is publicly signing their support for user-repaired smartphones and tablets. Besides making surprisingly repair-friendly devices (sometimes), this is Motorola's biggest and most public move in said direction.
The website and store iFixit provides step-by-step instructions for the tearing down (taking apart) and putting back together of a wide variety of personal electronics. This website's been the go-to source for deep-dive looks at the insides of phones for the last decade. Now they've proven themselves to the point at which Motorola's ready to do some business.
Motorola's role in this situation is providing iFixit with parts to sell on their website for repairs. Motorola's making money on this situation by getting rid of parts for phones they might not be making anymore – they might otherwise just be sitting in bins, unused. The folks at iFixit benefit by being the only source for official original Motorola parts supplied directly by Motorola itself.
The iFixit store will be selling a bunch of official Motorola OEM Fix Kits with parts, tools, and a step-by-step guide for whatever phone the user needs. The first collection includes 17 different kits at iFixit, with everything from the Motorola Moto G4 Plus LCD Screen and Digitizer Assembly kit to the Motorola Moto X Play Replacement Battery kit.
"For fixers like us, this partnership is representative of a broader movement in support of our Right to Repair," said iFixit's Elise Barsch. "It's proof that OEM manufacturers and independent repair can co-exist. Big business and social responsibility, and innovation and sustainability, don't need to be mutually exclusive. Motorola is setting an industry-leading example of a company that's looking forward—not just six months ahead to next quarter's margins, but decades ahead when devices are damned for the landfill."