Google To Sell Replacement Pixel Phone Parts Via IFixit

In a nod to right-to-repair efforts, Google is partnering with iFixit to offer spare parts for its Pixel smartphones dating all the way back to 2017.

Genuine Pixel parts will be in stock for iFixit customers in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and EU countries that sell Pixels "later this year." Parts will be available for devices as old as the Pixel 2 through 2021's Pixel 6 Pro, "as well as future Pixel models," Google said today. 

Available parts include "everything you need for the most common Google Pixel Repairs – batteries, displays, cameras and more," iFixit said. The repair howto site will be selling parts individually, and as part of its Fix Kits that include necessary pieces and tools needed to perform specific repair processes. 

"Google is making repair more affordable and accessible, even in places without repair shops. We are committed to enabling repairs at a place and time of your choosing," said iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens. "If we're going to build a sustainable electronics industry, consumers must have options to repair products themselves."

Google cites sustainability as one of its reasons for improving the ability to repair handsets, and said it is incorporating this into newer generations of hardware design. Google also said it's expanding the current Chromebook repair program and is looking into repair options for other devices as well.

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Hardware sustainability commitments may not be Google's only motivation for joining the growing list of companies who say they're okay with users repairing their own devices. Right-to-repair laws have been gaining steam in various US states, as well as the UK and Europe, where bills are or were mulled by lawmakers. Multiple bills are currently sitting in the US House and Senate, and US Government agencies like the FTC have signaled their support for such measures. 

Big tech companies have been pressured by right to repair advocates for years, and the timing of announcements from companies like Google, as well as Samsung and Microsoft, both of whom have similar programs to Google's through iFixit, are unlikely to be coincidental.

Apple also announced its own replacement parts and repair guide plan in late 2021, but little is known from when it will begin to who will host the parts store. Apple said it will be a third party, but aside from the initial announcement Cupertino has been silent on the program, which has yet to materialize. ®