Apples Most Repairable iPhone EVER - Teardown And Repair Assessment

[@bibasik7]

The air gap between the LCD and the digitizer is not very noticeable on a 3.5" iPhone. On an iPad, it makes the screen feel squishy, as if it were plastic.

[@andrewpotato6002]

The air gap also means dust often gets in and obstructs the screen

[@hishnash]

Also the gap has a big impact on screen readability in bright lighting conditions.

[@marcelofesta1290]

Just as I thought...

[@TtechA-ml2ju]

Get ready to be clicking on youtube and need a screen replacement😂😂😂

[@warw]

This was a blast of nostalgia. As a kid, A friend gave me a destroyed 3g, I learned how to fix each component, then began to fix phones of this and subsequent gens for friends. Thank you for the nostalgia. Great video as always :)

[@raniditine]

that’s genuinely so cool 🎉 how did you start learning with fixing tech?

[@panagiotispappas1001]

EU should enforce laws for addressing the problems with activation lock and 3rd party repair, not just having easily removable batteries or USB-C!

[@ishredder4006]

most of the politicians have stakes in the tech corporations that they are suppose to regulate, so it is against their interests to restrict them.

[@siedliko]

@@ishredder4006 Nope, Europe will have phones with batteries easy to replace soon.

[@ishredder4006]

@@siedliko hopefully but that's mostly due to pressure by environmental activists not by their good will or sense of duty. If it were the changes would have come a lot faster.

[@roobe47]

EU made a one good thing. Now let's compare the 100€ we're going to save on a replacable battery to the thousands of € we'll have to spend on the mandatory house renovations and other wierd ideas the EU is cooking for us :P

[@MyNameIsPetch]

@@siedliko define easy to replace, because that legislation is NOT going to make it like the days of swapping out your nokia battery

[@DJBla2e01]

I've noticed one design flaw with the iPhone 3GS' LCD ribbon cable. If you open and close the phone too many times, the ribbon cable will tear along where that little controller box is, causing the LCD to stop working. I've had it happen to two 3GS screens. Also had two 3GS batteries expand on me, but on the other hand, I've got a third one which still has it's original, unexpanded battery nearly 15 years later.

[@Kalvinjj]

Quite impressive that you can even find such a problem, that requires you to open the phone too many times. Heck, even if too many is like 5, that's already way above what any disposable meant to break crap nowadays can take, heck, some will be dead on 1st attempt. Judging from the older iPods, iMacs and such, it seems Apple's anti-repair BS is quite recent, back like pre 2010 or wherever, it was quite hit or miss, with full priority on the design of the device instead, and if it happens to get in the way of repair, too bad, if it doesn't, great. iPod 4th gen ones being quite easy to open, with a standard IDE 1.8" HDD inside, while the latest gen was horrible, and the Nanos being quite terrible as well, the 1st iMac had the PC part separate from the monitor electronics, and then later the eMac was combined...

[@dudetf]

That happened to me and I still don’t have the cash to buy a replacement screen, it’s such an awful design flaw, but I don’t think Apple has cared about that since usually the screen would be replaced or somethint

[@jakubpouzar3365]

So this is why the screen on my 3GS stopped working after repairing the phone and replacing the battery. Guess I'll have to a new one then. Good to know, haha.

[@RSWebery]

Can confirm with the battery, I used to have one but battery expanded and cracked its display and the plastic shell. Great phone otherwise!

[@iambujar]

I remember that on a 3GS ,it just showed a white Display lol , older models had Many flaws and not to forget the dust between the touch and Display which was the worst !!

[@SalemTechsperts]

imo the 6s was the most repairable and reliable iPhone ever made. Even if you lost Touch ID by replacing the home button, EVERYTHING was modular and replaceable.

[@nNasosssV2]

And not to mention the 6S was a beast. Having 7 years of major software updates is a big deal (same for the XR and Xs with iOS 18) and plus two years of security, making it a whopping 9 years... 6S users are lucky. (I got one from my dad)

[@HWE_mooncake]

The greatest technician that has ever lived....

[@f1speedrunner03]

When I saw the white back, I was expecting a video on the 5C, completely forgetting that the 3-line didn't use pentillobe screws yet. It really shows how far a company can fall in repairability without the general public knowing anything. Keep at it, Hugh

[@mrfoxesite6982]

I also thought it was 5c not 3g

[@Tom2404]

Same and I knew the 3G(s) is easier to repair. But the 5 and 5c are a solid third and fourth place after the 3G and 3Gs.

[@edwardfletcher7790]

@@Tom2404 No the 5 had an annoying number of screws. The 4 was the next easiest to repair.

[@Tom2404]

@@edwardfletcher7790 the 4 and 4s has that weird aluminium midframe where you need to feed the display cables through a hole in order to replace it. Also a screen replacement requires a total disassembly. And as far as I can remember the iPhone 4 and 4s had as much if not more screws than the 5 and 5c. I really like to work on these much more than the 4 series. The only reason why the 4 and 4s and even the 2G land would before the 5s, SE, iPhone 6 and 6s in my ranking is because you can't replace the fingerprint scanner on these models.

[@phillipp1722]

Even though I made a lot of money repairing the iPhone 4 and 4S. It was always pain in the ass to replace the screen. The 6/6s series wasn’t that bad to fix either.

[@saramae9878]

But the battery! Oh how delightful it was to just take the back off.

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

The 5c is okay tbh.

[@dylanlindsay1993]

yep! i agree with you! ive fixed a lot of iphone 6/6s before from batteries to screens.. i own a iphone 6 and a iphone 6s plus and swapping the screens/batteries isnt that bad...

[@iambujar]

6 and 6s 7 and even 8 series and X, and 11 series were so easy to break, I earned too much from them lol but since the iPhone 12 came out then we had like 70% drop on display repairs for the newer models :(

[@saramae9878]

​@@iambujarI've noticed the same. I barely have to keep any in stock. Meanwhile if I ignore our 11 stock for like a day poof we're out.

[@moe_1886]

Oh the nostalgia... I remember lining up at 4am for the 3G! I was the 9th person in the line too! The first... and only time I ever bothered lining up for a phone! 🤣 Thanks for the memories Hugh!

[@Kalvinjj]

Back then things were actually different, you could see the evolution and stuff had some kind of personality, nowadays it's plain boring. Regardless of which side you were at (and there weren't only 2 back then) it was a lot more fun and different.

[@theoneandonlyartyom]

​@@KalvinjjOMG look! our screen is now like .5 inches bigger, the battery can now fit an extra 100 mAh, and the new processor is .10 gHz stronger! buy it now!!!! oh also as soon as we sell enough we're going to release the exact same phone but with a new 2mp macro camera

[@Kalvinjj]

@@theoneandonlyartyom And we removed this feature because oh my god it's soooo old and ugly! No, you DON'T need it just listen to what we say and buy it! What you NEED is that 5th selfie camera! BUY IT! Sure it's yet another 20% more expensive and it's monthly payments are reaching the price of your rent but you NEED the 5th selfie camera!

[@shogun2215]

The fact that they started using Pentalobe screws as early as the 3Gs shows the anti-right to repair was there pretty much from the start.

[@camjkerman]

Steve Jobs was very anti consumer repair, the iPods were also quite finnicky to get into, and some generations of iPod nano physically impossible if the battery's bloated a bit with age. I believe it's why the iPhone had a SIM tray from the start, when every other phone hid the SIM and SD card slots (even their batteries, built with strengthening with removability in mind) behind an easily removable back panel. In fact, Samsung still built their flagship phones like this until Summer 2014- the Note 4 being the last flagship with a removable back.

[@ViciousFirearms]

Typo? 3GS uses phillips

[@MrBioniclefan1]

@@camjkermanAnd apple still counties with Steve Jobs flawed idea.

[@monstrixmonstrousx2842]

Hello cool video, removable battery in 2008-2009 were very common. It's start to change after 2014.

[@Louis-L186]

Let's hope in ten years people will say “removable battery were removed in 2014 but were added back in the 2020s thanks to Fairphone and the EU”

[@ronlevin2339]

@@Louis-L186 2027 ב''ה

[@Tom2404]

Yep. I remember my Samsung Galaxy S4, a flagship phone from 2013. It had a removable back. Sadly still 32 bit internals like the IPhone 5. But at least the 32 bit era really ended with a bang.

[@mikemaj2]

Well, 3g was relatively simple to disassemble, but was plagued with wear out issues as cracking back and clear coat peeling off, separation of metal frame ad plastic back, failing ringer switch and buttons loosing clickiness. Oh and LCD and digitizer connectors coming loose and causing display issues. Most of this was corrected with 4, but display removal was a lot harder. I'd say the pinnacle of repairability was 5 (before 5s introduced touchid pairing) as reliability of the chassis was improved and both display and battery (pull tabs) were easy to replace (but still we got issuses with display separating from the frame). 4s was more sturdy and didn't fall apart, but was harder to replace components. That's how we ended up with so many screws holding down every button and flex cable.

[@Warbob11]

I honestly enjoy the 3gs i picked up three years ago in a garage sale for $5. Was a risk, plugged it in charged and no password. Had info on it, checked and asked owner they said nothing is needed. So i reset it, luckily it had the sim, you need one to restore these. Otherwise its been an amazing ipod since. Everything is original back cover is cracked a little around the chargeport. Battery has a long life and keeps charge i will pop it open this year too check.

[@timg2727]

The air gap between layers in non-bonded displays is actually very noticeable. It adds a large amount of reflectivity and hampers visibility quite a bit in brighter light. This is actually one tradeoff that I feel was worth it in modern phones.

[@prodbydanai]

Keep in mind the 3G was manufactured in an Era when Steve Jobs was still alive. Thus, it had to be both sustainable and repair friendly. When Steve Jobs died in 2011, the first iPhone that was released after his death (iPhone 5) started the trend of heating up the display in order to get access to its internals. Coincidence? I think not.

[@GrumpyIan]

Surprised? I'm certainly not.

[@WantBadtime]

That and the iconic high resolution 3D icons and textures before everything became over-simplified with iOS 7.

[@StephenDeTomasi]

I think it actually is a coincidence.

[@axethepenguin]

@@WantBadtimeI actually really liked iOS 7 icons & iOS 7 in general, they weren’t oversimplified since you could tell what they were, I think our current iOS icons are oversimplified, they’ve become flatter.

[@axethepenguin]

Also, not all Steve Jobs devices were actually repair friendly, most notably, the iPod touch.

[@Simbacu]

The iPhone 6 is an absolute breeze to work on too, even those are cheap to repair and it doesn't really matter if the parts are aftermarket

[@lucasm20]

I truly wish phones had somehow gone in a direction more akin to laptops and regular computers where you could maintain them for a while and only have to upgrade when there was a meaningful necessity (more ram, processing power, battery capacity). Too bad that was never going to happen as it's more profitable to make disposable hardware.

[@macberry4048]

What we need is the ti83 calculator phones. But we won't get it for the same reason that no android OEM can copy the philosophy of Apple's SE model phones

[@eshk7281]

I guess in another way we can pray that laptops and regular computers don't go down the way phones did.

[@Kalvinjj]

@@eshk7281 you mean, stop going or at least not ALL go right? Cause soldered in SSDs on the Macbooks are already a thing, paired components and the same crap we see on phones are already happening.

[@rosaria8384]

Laptops are more locked down than before, sans the Framework laptop as well as many gaming laptops. Most are just fitted with soldered on SSDs and other key replaceable parts

[@eshk7281]

@@Kalvinjj Well shit

[@crestofhonor2349]

Yes I would take a laminated screen over a non laminated one. That does effect the viewing experience and a laminated screen is far better for veiwing. However there are other things that could be far better. If only apple didn't pair their parts to the phone, that should really be illegal since how anti repair that is

[@hishnash]

Other than the finger print sensor there is no direct parts paring. What you call parts paring is lack of calibration profiles not pairing.

[@stusue9733]

@@hishnash But if they don't make the calibration software available(or if things are designed to need calibration unnecessarily) the effect is the same. Not being able to swap batteries is a "calibration" issue?

[@hishnash]

@@stusue9733 You can swap batteries but charge and usage info needs calibration yes. Currently apples solution for calibration is based on having a server that has all the factory profiles and if you have a new parts a phone (or Mac) can pull the profile for that part but if you have a used part that has already been assigned to another device the disgantsic mode (that ships on all macs and iPhones) cant pull the profile. What apple should change is let you pull the profile of used parts but only if those parts are not connected to SOCs that have been reported as stolen. RtR should not become right to steal and sell parts for a high price.

[@alex15095]

@@hishnash I call BS on this, because in many cases you can either transfer the little chip from the old part to the new part or use a tool to transfer its contents, and magically it will work fine, despite the part being COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. What's exactly being calibrated?

[@hishnash]

@@alex15095 Yep when you transfer that ship it moves the SN of the device so the SO continues to use the existing calibration info. It will work OK not perfectly as the calibration will be using the values from the old part not the new part. In effect your running with the old calibration profile. More or less everything needs calibration, this is not new, going back thousands of years we have always calibrated things we make be that a set of scales, or a messing stick or an ink die. If you ant to re-produce the same result every time after you make something you need to test it and then apply a calibration. For scales this is the markings you draw, for ink die this might be adding or removing move or less other colours to match the output, for a messing stick this will be the exact length.

[@emdotrod]

I just bought an iPhone 3G for $2 at a thrift shop. Aside from some scratches, its battery still hold charge and it's very functional. It's passcode locked and it's easily bypassed by reinstalling the iOS. No iCloud lock BS.

[@Chthonian121]

I remember the jailbreaks for these. Classic days

[@Knaeckebrotsaege]

I still have my jailbroken 3GS with its pineapple icon for a lockscreen slider and burp unlock sound... I may have been a bit more childish back then 🤣

[@corkycorner3232]

There's a blast from the past , the backlight coil was so easy to work on

[@B0H0]

The 3g, 3gs, 4 and 4s were some of my favorites to do glass mods and replace screens/ other stuff. I got into jailbreaking on the iPod Touch, so fixing my own phones was the next step. Ever since they made it more annoying, I just don't have the time to care. Just gonna get a replacement through apple care

[@Always-on-it954]

Just wait until next year Apple with probably serialize tiny things like the bottom microphone and Taptic Engine.

[@OFFtheCHIZANE]

iPhone 8/SE 2020/SE 2022 aren’t terrible to repair. Hardest part is removing the screen, but from there you can replace most parts with minimal impact on performance. Plus, aftermarket replacement screens can cost as little as $20.

[@CarterSherman-z6n]

Great video I’ve learned to repair my devices because of your videos. Time when brands tried to give every possible specs in budget.

[@electromega3077]

I miss those small phone which you can put in your pocket and you don’t feel it. Nowadays the phones are so big that you have to make sure the pockets are big enough for the phone when buying clothing.

[@fuelhemi426]

This was the reason I bought the iPhone 12 mini. It has served me well.

[@StephenDeTomasi]

Not true at all, plenty of small phones to choose from

[@startedtech]

I will say I dont think the cost tradeoff for outer glass lens replacement over full screen replacement is worth it. Laminated glass screens look so much better in use since they don't have the air gap. Theres a reason essentially every modern touchscreen device (besides the Switch non-oled models) went that route.

[@ViciousFirearms]

i've been trying to remember what game your pfp is from but can't remember for the life of me!

[@startedtech]

@@ViciousFirearms Space Cadet Pinball, the one that was included in Windows 2000/XP

[@realspeedghxst]

​@@ViciousFirearmsit's from 3d pinball space cadet, quite a blast from the past eh

[@ViciousFirearms]

@@realspeedghxst yup that’s the one! I remember me and my friends being in computer lab and trying to get the highest score… good times

[@brottochstraff]

Love the feel of a iPhone 3G in your hand, its so smooth and comfortable to hold.

[@jagged6373]

It’s amazing how far logic boards have come in such a short time. The whole engineering and insides of phones altogether are pretty amazing stuff

[@I_like_some_BG]

I do have an iPhone 5S in the latest software in fact the battery and waterproof seal has been replaced and the phone is my daily driver and I love how it fits in my pocket and I love it.

[@iOSPro]

Great video I’ve learned to repair my devices because of your videos

[@keijijohnson9754]

It's videos like this that really show how much Apple has gone downhill in the last couple decades in regards of being both consumer and repair friendly. Between them including less and less accessories in their products while charging more for them, and making it increasingly impossible for people to repair their devices in their own home, not to mention them making it difficult to near impossible for users to downgrade to their preferred version of iOS with each passing year, it really just shows how much they've been becoming the Disney of the tech industry with each passing year. Outside of the forced change to USB-C, it really makes me wish the EU forced more changes for companies like Apple to abide by so they and other tech companies could be more like what they used to be back in the day before the iPhone made such a double edge sworded influence to the whole industry. Or at least have a change in CEOs commissioned or something. After what we've seen of Apple and especially Sony in the past year alone, I feel like that's something that is DESPERATELY needed for these companies right now.

[@megatronskneecap]

They haven't "gone down hill". They've just decided todo things differently. People wouldn't still be buying iPhone if it was going down hill.

[@HailAnts]

When I saw the thumbnail I thought it was a 5C. My first iPhone was a 4, forgot that the original and the 3's were made of plastic.

[@cjay2]

I think that one of the most important facets we lost in the modern phones is the high quality of the icons that we had previously. Now the icons are simple, flat and appeal to the lower intelligence of those who are using them.

[@BettMagnett]

I miss app icons being treated like album and book covers and not just a generic symbol of the name or function of the app!

[@nbaprophet100]

The gap is very noticeable between the lcd and digitiser. I agree with everything else though.

[@9852323]

This is the phone that I first learned how to repair phones with. I agree that it’s a super easy phone to repair but the only issue is the placement of the battery because it requires removal of the logic board to replace it, however the lack of tons of glue strips is a huge advantage.

[@the_grand_tourer]

I still have mine! My first iPhone… and I tell you what, despite it having an unintentional swim in the Caribbean… it’s still in perfect condition, the battery is still in good nic. I could pop a sim in it today, (thankfully they get smaller - not larger) and I could use it. They’ve gone from phones that last to ones that are near single use, it’s a crime.

[@TheUltimateRecycler]

The line "modern phones are harder to repair - by design" is both very true and very annoying! Nice video Hugh! 👍😊

[@Unknown1880]

The good old times! I can remember that I often repaired the Iphone 3 and 4 myself because I broke it because of my job as RTK GPS technician in the Agriculture where fine elektronics and dirty hard work meets.

[@manasgupta304]

apple and repairable, never thought I would hear those 2 words in a single sentence

[@jasonbaker5430]

Thanks to watching your videos, I replaced the battery in my 2020 SE using the ifixit repair kit. The repair went without any problems. Of course, I have the warning message about my battery but everything is working properly.

[@bosschungles]

For me personally, the 6S was the most easy to repair device as everything including the battery was removable. There were definitely more parts to it but replacing the entire housing and doing a simply logic-board transfer and keeping all other components or mixing and matching parts without any software limitation made that phone SO accessible in my opinion. Provided that you have a steady hand, good lighting and a pentalobe screwdriver the 6S was so easy to repair and source parts for

[@S-1_24-25]

I’d say the 5 or 5c were much easier. My preferences come from experience, I can agree that the 6s is easy to repair.

[@DijaFix]

It hadn’t occurred to me that I had not probably seen a teardown of any iPhone before the iPhone 6 before, but now I have

[@joshxkerrigan]

I disassembled one of my old 3Gs's due to the expanded battery a few weeks ago. Oddly enough both of my 3G's have been fine, they must've used a different battery cell in the 3Gs for it to be the faulty one after all these years. That said, the insides of both 3G/3Gs are near identical, and I desperately wish they'd return to the separated glass/LCD panels (especially on $699/799 iPhone models) and the numbered ribbon cables! There's clearly no need for modern iPhones to have 4x the amount of screws as this old one, it's not like these things rattled around in our pockets!!

[@VictorBreazzeal]

Wow the digression insane on repair ability they already know what was important then they screwed you out of it

[@MultiTelan]

I replaced the battery in my 3GS once iFixit got them in stock early this year. It was beaten in repairability only to replacing the battery in a PSP. Holy crap it was easy.

[@thomascee]

I will say in 2023, I am still rocking the iPhone 6s. I am unclear which newer models begin to pair their screens, batteries, and the like. I might upgrade if a newer model was not anti-repair, but for now, my 6s still runs all the apps just fine.

[@kirilnikolovski81]

Ahhh the good old 3g, the only iphone I ever owned. Was a game changer back in the day. Would like to have a more manageable device that I can use in one hand again.

[@TheFixSt.CharlesTowneCenter]

iPhone 3GS was the 1st to introduce the P2 pentalobe screw just like the MacBook that year with the P5 pentalobe screw

[@chrismifsud7154]

I still have my original iPhone 3G and 3GS. The 3G works but the wifi no longer works. The 3GS also works but the backlight died. Both phones had suffered liquid back when they were new.

[@daofishen]

i remember replacing my iphone 5 screen every two weeks coz i kept dropping my phone, it was no more than a 2 minute process. will always be the best experience ive had repairing phones

[@iambujar]

I agree this iPhone model is repairable , but it had much more defects and fails than the newer models, as a repair shop owner now , I rarely see an iPhone with a damaged side button, earpiece or even antenna failure, only thing that the newer models suffer of are Screen and (back glass which costs under 30 bucks to repair in my shop ) and it is repairable just like the Display with the new laser technology. So we have many people who use their phone with a good case and screen protector for more than 3 years and never had to repair their phone !! when it comes to a bad drop then every phone will receive damage !

[@80sTechKid]

It's good that U.S. Cellular and T-Mobile still has 2G up so these can actually be used as phones, meaning you can actually use a repairable iPhone.

[@Knaeckebrotsaege]

In Germany, 3G and 3.5G (HSPA) were shut down a couple years back, but regular old 1993 GSM has been kept alive as a fallback for an indefinite amount of time, meaning you can use any GSM900/1800 phone from the 90s onwards still. Felt a bit surreal when I fixed my own old Nokia 5110 (5190/5125 in NA) from 24 years ago and it was fully functional (calls, texts and all) once I popped a SIM in

[@iTheftAuto]

Sadly T-Mobile’s 2G network is shutting down on 4/04/2024, luckily US Cellular’s 2G is indefinitely staying up (though shutdown is still planned at some point)

[@80sTechKid]

@@iTheftAuto There is also a carrier in the Southwest called Commnet, and in Illinois there is IV Cellular (I think they still have 2G) and Kansas and Eastern CO has another CDMA carrier, forgot what it was.

[@tommajor1013]

apple can win award for their non repairable tablets on the market,every single component is hard glued and particularly a battery replacement is like trip to hell

[@Red_PlaysYT]

I’d like to argue that the 6s plus is easier to repair despite it using proprietary screws to access inside. Been rocking my 6s since 2016 and since then I’ve replaced the aux port, battery, speaker, charging port, both front and back camera. Still going strong and gets security updates in iOS 15. And yes I’m incredibly irresponsible with my phone that’s why I replaced all those parts. Gonna try to push this bad boy as far as I can

[@Kalvinjj]

Pretty cool do be able to do this, really. but... It really got me curious how you managed to break the cameras even! Like, barely I get it with speakers but the camera is quite incredible.

[@Red_PlaysYT]

@@Kalvinjj I unplugged the cameras before detaching the battery cable so when I put it back together, the cameras wouldn't turn on. As for the speakers, it either got water damaged or it just wore down with regular wear and tear.

[@Sb129]

I still have my 3G~ It was extremely adequate for it's day, if only we had todays power with yesterdays modularity.

[@Nitinisonline]

Time when brands tried to give every possible specs in budget🙂😊

[@RetroMannGaming]

2010 I got my first iPhone, the 3Gs. I repaired the hell out of it and opened it so many times that I broke it. I miss those times.

[@Slamdoxicalz]

I went from 3GS to 6S to 11 Pro without needing a repair. The only thing that would slowly die was the battery, but it would also be around the time the device was slow enough to warrant a replacement. Now my 11 Pro's battery is at 84% but the device is still fast enough. I'm happy when the EU forced removable batteries comes into play, hopefully that's when I can buy phone lasting over a decade.

[@Maggashi]

I remember this times, even my dad whos not very technical did iphone repairs for friends and family, on 3g - 4s

[@noname1210hh]

when i worked in repair shops from 2015-2020 i always found the 5c easiest to open and work on

[@mattalki]

My 3GS had an expanding battery while sitting in the box. It pushed the LCD off the housing and basically had parts all over the place. I bought a new battery for it and reassembled it and it did power on, though it bootloops. I thought it would be fun to get it working again, but at this point I'm pretty sure it's done. Cool seeing how repairable they are.

[@Tom2404]

Yep, the logic board get's bend and they are dead

[@T3CHGY007]

Ahhhhh the good old days!

[@tcode3564]

Apparently if you change the backglass with the flash on the new iPhone 14, it won't save pictures taken with then new flash. I don't know if that is true because I only heard it from one source yet, but it would be interesting if you could test if it is true.... I mean it's apple after all 🍎

[@lucavideos]

The only think very delicate is the flex cable for mute, the volume rocker and the standby button. But otherwise the 3GS is very easy to repair.

[@DDD893]

Yet another proof that life used to be better.

[@Green_House]

Wow! How phones should be made. 🙂

[@Jesse78]

Super glad to see old iDevices on here again

[@darthraider450]

Can you try modding a lightning or USBC port onto the 3G or 3GS?

[@dorin.dumitru]

I do remember when I found my 3GS exploded into my locker in Iraq, back in 2013... It absolutely destroyed the motherboard. I felt very sorry for losing it at that point, was a really nice phone.

[@Heinskitz]

Had a IP 3GS as my first smartphone- best iPhone ever. If the motherboard hadn't died I wouldn't have upgraded to a IP5, which was an entirely disappointing release. I wish I'd looking into self-repair at the time, but it did lead to me upgrading to an HTC One (amazing phone) and escaping the Apple ecosystem altogether.

[@alisonsmith4436]

Thank you Hugh

[@gGadget]

Love your topics! Great video!!

[@george6977]

I dislike the built in obsolescence of mobile phones by limiting the number of years it receives security updates.

[@SAHARA_79]

Hey Jeffery can u make a video on phone repair kits or laptop and stuff cause I wanna get into fixing that stuff and show us what u use them for pls

[@Falconhunter276]

My next phone will be a Fairfone. I have a drawer full of old phones that are just too pricey to repair, Samsung. I'm looking at you. I don't, like most people, need the top tech and abilities of flagship models, so repairability is high on my 'nice to have' list.

[@Knaeckebrotsaege]

Samsung is especially bad for repairability, in that if your phone is more than 1 generation old, a screen repair will be a total financial loss, as the replacement service pack costs the same or even more than the entire functional phone is worth used. Turns an otherwise fully functional device into e-waste. That said, the fairphone isn't an option either with its abysmal specs for near flagship pricing

[@Baggytrousers27]

Fond memories of going in to a phone repair shop with my Galaxy note 2 with a cracked screen and being told it would be more money to replace the screen than the phone was worth because the screen was held on with adhesive ...

[@BrianBourgeois-]

I did the digitizer repair on a 3GS. It wasn’t to bad considering I had no electronic repair experience up to that point.

[@ReiLyfe]

When I saw the title I was thinking iPhoneSE being a possible option, but then was like whoah whoah whoaahhhhh this is actually terrifying.

[@smarkies]

Wow the memories, we used to stock some screens, since wife always drops the phone and damage the screen, its very cheap anyway only 8 euro per screen way back 2011.

[@rogercarroll8764]

The iPhone 4s was also quite repairable, as the back glass slid off after unscrewing the bottom screws. The battery was easy to replace.

[@HyperVectra]

Yeah.. and how about the display?

[@BladeoftheImmortal2005]

Love your videos. I did a repair recently on my friend's iphone 12 mini he broke just to see if I could. I did everything right except the FaceID. I messed up and ribbon was destroyed. Feel so dumb with that one. Other than that everything else is in working order now.

[@FennecTECH]

Displays are glued to the glass for a very good reason. It’s the only way you could get such a great image. The space is going to add reflections and haziness.

[@michaellegg9381]

You should have put a new motherboard in to see what the cameras and motor's and home button do. Be nice to see exactly where they introduced anti repair tactics.

[@Serkuvel]

Great video. I have never had a display break, but I have had three phones (and an iPod touch 2. gen) that have had the display not glued to the digitizer and all of them got dust in between sooner or later. So I do prefer the glued version.

[@zachberg4675]

I was honestly thinking it was a iphone 5C.

[@Crazyreviewer123]

Exactly my first thought as well

[@ashlielepper6717]

Please have another video for the Macintosh portable

[@Code_Dude]

Its true. Not only this phone is easy to repair, it is also very durable.

[@Tuhueleamierda1991]

I don't know about that but okay

[@Wistbacka]

Now take into account that this was considered a very complicated and anti-consumer design for repairability at the time compared to its competition. 🤓😅

[@lukedavis436]

I gotta get myself a 3GS for the collection, they're cheap enough, unlike other older iPhones lol

[@carlodeguzman683]

Regarding water resistance, I'd like to know if Samsung S5 used a hydrophobic coating with their last removable battery phone.

[@vampyrelycan99]

Not sure about the hydrophobic coating but Samsux still has XCover 5 and 6Pro in the current lineup, both featuring removable covers with integrated gaskets as well as some other legacy compatibility......

[@toasterifclj9974]

The 3GS was the first phone I ever fixed very beloved to me :)

[@marcfabricatore1506]

HEY HUGH I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS.

[@barbadolid5170]

The 3g and 3gs were a pain in the ass to work on, compared to the 4 and 4s (personal opinion, ofc). Glasses that detach from the frame, screen dust... I don't deem the pentalobe or the cables that cannot go on other place a big deal. The lack of LOCA glue? Dust in between and much more brittle glass, let alone the slight but very much noticeable difference in color, and the extra light reflection.

[@MELSDOGMOCHII]

Hi Hugh question my moms iPad has a worn out battery and she has not been able to use it unless it’s the charging port please reply with an answer to the problem. Thanks!

[@tessierrr]

was looking for the iphone 15 video, but this video will just make it even better when it does come out 😄im expecting the complete opposite 😂

[@No1BRC]

I worked on Iphone3gs as well. Indeed very easy to work on- however it had very strange issues where defective cameras would cause software problems rendering the cam unusable.

[@davidallen3158]

I remember the kiosks in shopping malls that could replace your screen.

[@kiyoshi6247]

And people think I'm the crazy one for disliking any phone type of product.

[@panagiotispappas1001]

Funny how the most repairable iPhone is one that nobody uses anymore and when people where using it back then they didn't really repair them.

[@OrlovKruskayev]

It has been 15 years my dude. Of course no one uses it anymore lmao

[@Ryzen4070_SUPER]

yay new video!

[@topollillo6713]

Hey Hugh, there is something that you haven’t repaired yet, and that’s the apple AirPods Pro, I have gathered mine and they have been working amazingly, but it’s been a couple of weeks, and there is a buzzing or Geiger sound when the AirPods are being wormed, I was wondering if you could find a solution for that, I’ve seen that some repairers open them and change the speaker. So I was wondering if you could do the same