Google announced the Pixel 9a last month, which is a unique device in terms of the back design—or to be more specific, the protrusion of the camera module. It’s a great choice for people like me who prefer a completely flush back design. While the phone looks appealing, is it easy to repair? How does it look from the inside? Well, YouTube creator PBKreviews took the phone apart to find out just that.
The good and bad in terms of repairability
Three of the most common smartphone repairs are replacing the display, back plate, and the battery inside. The back plate of the Pixel 9a is made of plastic, so there’s very little chance that you’ll ever need to replace this. Removing the back plate with heat and a suction cup reveals the same pull the predecessors use.
It’s a different kind of pull tab, which you need to slide back and forth to cut through the adhesive, which is strong enough to hold the battery until the pull tab breaks. The only viable option remaining at that point is to apply a solvent, such as isopropyl alcohol, and wait for it to loosen up the adhesive. But it still requires prying, which could, in some cases, damage the soft packaging of the battery and may even cause fire. It used to be the case with older Samsung phones, which have now been replaced with the traditional pull tabs.
On the positive side, the screen replacement is relatively easier: it only requires the screen to be pried off. The display cable can be plugged and unplugged from the board without opening the back plate, which is a good thing. The heat dissipation system for this phone also looks good, which should enable the Tensor G4 chip to handle all day-to-day tasks.
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