TL;DR
- With the ability to open the cellphone from each the entrance and the again is an enormous step ahead in reparability.
- Element substitute usually seems fairly straightforward, with the notable exceptions of the display screen and battery.
This 12 months’s Pixel lineup is all about providing you with choices. The brand new positioning of the Pixel 9 Professional seems like a smartphone being made with out compromise, squeezing in an entire lot of efficiency right into a bundle no greater than the bottom Pixel 9. However for customers who need that sort of energy, all of Google’s newest options, and the most important (non-foldable) display screen they will get, the Pixel 9 Professional XL is the place it’s at. In the event you’ve been curious to see what makes this cellphone tick, it’s lastly time to peel again its exterior and get into the center inside, as we take a look at a video teardown.
This time, it’s the crew over at iFixit cracking open the brand new Pixel (by way of 9to5Google), and nearly from the get-go, issues begin rearing their ugly head. A minimum of, whereas the Pixel 9 Professional XL is straightforward sufficient to start out prying aside from the entrance, the delicate show panel was an early casualty, partially delaminating throughout removing.
Blessedly, that’s not your solely possibility for entering into the Pixel 9 Professional, and apart from eradicating the display screen, there’s additionally the potential of moving into via the again panel. Whereas iFixit has some issues about Google’s execution right here, this nonetheless seems like a far safer possibility for anybody feeling courageous sufficient to strive changing the cellphone’s battery.
Keep in mind the temperature sensor from the Pixel 8 Professional that it felt like Google largely forgot about? And the way Google didn’t even hassle to speak about it returning on the Pixel 9 collection? We don’t get the perfect take a look at it right here, mounted within the again panel like it’s, nevertheless it scores an overdue shout-out, all the identical.
From right here, really attending to the cellphone’s battery seems fairly straightforward, and whereas just a few stickers obscure screws you’ll must take away, there’s not lots else that’s getting in you means. A minimum of, that’s the case up till you go to drag the battery itself, which is held in place with some critical adhesive. And regardless of the presence of tabs particularly designed to assist in battery removing, effectively, good luck:
On the cellphone’s backside edge, every thing comes out good and cleanly, and contemplating how straightforward it may be to break a USB-C port, with the ability to rapidly substitute the small daughterboard housing it appears fairly handy.
Getting out the principle board and the rear cameras hooked up to it’s a barely greater wrestle than working with a lot of the elements we’ve seen thus far, however as long as you’re cautious and take note of how brackets are secured, it is best to have the ability to get it off with out doing (an excessive amount of) harm. As soon as that fundamental board’s out, we get a very good take a look at the brand new Tensor G4 chip powering this era of Pixel telephones:
With all of the elements out, iFixit will get to point out off the mid-plate that types the core of the Pixel 9 Professional XL’s body, and helps contribute a lot to the cellphone’s sturdiness.
All in all, it seems like a strong step ahead for Google’s smartphone designs — however that’s not a journey that’s over. For all the development’s Google managed to make to battery entry, really eradicating the element continues to be unnecessarily troublesome. And whereas the cellphone itself is extremely sturdy, elements just like the show panel are all too straightforward to break throughout disassembly. There’s all the time subsequent 12 months!
