Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Teardown Video Reveals Repairability Score; Falls Behind the iPhone 17 Pro

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra was launched at the Galaxy Unpacked event last month alongside the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26+ models. The new Ultra flagship came with a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chipset and a 5,000mAh battery with support for 60W wired fast charging and 25W wireless charging. iFixit has now posted a teardown video of the Galaxy S26 Ultra to rate its repairability. The handset appears to have an easily replaceable battery and a rear camera setup. The teardown highlights how difficult it is to remove the display and selfie shooter.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Teardown

The iFixit team begins its over eight-minute teardown of the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra by heating the adhesive and removing the back panel. The team states that the handset can be opened from only one side, and that the display connector is accessible only through the back. To reach the battery, the team removes the lower speaker and disconnects the interconnect cables trapped underneath. The video states that removing the battery is straightforward.

After taking out the battery, the teardown shifts focus to the removal of the USB Type-C port, which appears to be hassle-free. For accessing the rear camera system, the team removed the mainboard and detached it from underneath by reapplying thermal paste. The back camera module, including a 200-megapixel wide-angle primary sensor, a 50-megapixel periscope telephoto camera, a 50-megapixel ultrawide lens, and a 10-megapixel telephoto camera, was easy to access.

The video shows the mainboard with a PCB sandwich design housing the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, along with Qualcomm's X85 5G modem and 12GB of RAM in the 256GB variant. The selfie camera is said to be glued in place, making it difficult to remove even after applying heat.

As per the teardown video, the display is the hardest component to remove from the Galaxy S26 Ultra. The team applies 110-degree Celsius heat and uses a heavy suction cup to remove the front panel, but it requires significant effort.

In the end, the video assigns a repairability score of five out of 10 for the Galaxy S26 Ultra. iFixit notes that if Samsung sorts out its abysmal replacement parts and manuals experience, the score would be six, bringing it on par with the Pixel 10 and below the latest iPhone 17 models. Last year, iFixit scored the Galaxy S25 Ultra five out of ten. However, Apple's iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air scored a seven out of ten, making it the clear winner.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is priced at Rs. 1,39,999 for the base 12GB + 256GB RAM and storage variant. It has a 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display and a 5,000mAh battery with support for 60W wired fast charging and 25W wireless charging. It runs on a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chipset.