Summary
- The Nothing Phone (3) has a low repairability score of 3/10 due to glued components and hidden screws.
- The visually destructive disassembly process makes repairs difficult and risks damaging the phone’s appearance.
- A lack of official repair manuals and parts availability complicates the repair process and increases the risk of errors.
The Nothing Phone (3) was recently launched as Nothing’s closest attempt to an actual flagship to date. And while it gets close, it still misses the mark on some key issues. One of the aspects where it misses the mark by a lot is repairability, so make sure your screen never breaks.
iFixit has performed one of its famous teardowns on the new Nothing Phone (3), and showed off several issues and design choices that make the smartphone difficult and costly to repair. The phone earned a dismal repairability score of 3 out of 10—not fully unrepairable like a 2 or 1 score would suggest, but you’ll still have a hard time getting into this and making repairs.
One of the biggest issues with it is the phone’s “visually destructive” disassembly process. In an effort to maintain its signature transparent aesthetic, Nothing has opted to hide away crucial screws under the decorative stickers that give the phone its unique look. This makes the phone look nice (though I personally think this phone is extremely ugly, but some people like it), but these stickers are easily damaged and difficult to reapply correctly during reassembly. This means that even a simple repair can permanently mar the phone’s unique appearance—if you’re not careful, you’ll probably want to get a case for it to hide those ugly repair marks.
It doesn’t end there. Nothing has not released official repair manuals for the device, forcing technicians to “fly blind” and rely on guesswork and prior experience, which increases the risk of error and damage during the repair process. The company has also not established a program for selling official parts directly to consumers or independent repair providers, which means we need to rely on salvaged parts from other devices or, even worse, bootleg Chinese parts for essential components like batteries, screens, and charging ports. Even the stuff that is in place for making repairs easier sucks—the phone has a pull tab for easily removing the battery, but said pull tab is apparently prone to tearing, making technicians deal with the adhesive below.
You can check out iFixit’s full teardown and review here, but it doesn’t look great.
Brand
Nothing
SoC
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4
Display
6.67-inch, 1260×2800 (1.5K) AMOLED
RAM
12/16GB
Storage
256/512GB
Battery
5,150 mAh
The Nothing Phone (3) is a bold new flagship that mixes unique design, strong performance, and some handy new features, though not without compromise. It boasts a Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chip, triple 50MP cameras, a sharp 1.5K AMOLED display, and the new Glyph Matrix for notifications and mini-games. The $799 starting price places it in flagship territory, but it lacks LTPO display tech and a top-tier chipset, which may put off spec-focused buyers. Still, with solid battery life, fast charging, and standout design, the Phone (3) offers a different take on what a modern flagship can be.
Source: iFixit
