iFixit has done a teardown of Huawei P20 Pro and the results might dissuade consumers who are planning to purchase the flashy new smartphone.
Huawei P20 Pro Receives Poor Reparability Rating
After a thorough dissection by iFixit, Huawei's latest offering received a repairability score of 4 out of 10, with 10 being the easiest or cheapest to repair.
The P20 Pro score puts the device on par with the iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus, which all received a rating of 4 as well. The rating is calculated based on how easy it is to replace the parts of the device as well as the battery, and how durable are the phone's casing and glass.
Why Is It So Hard And Expensive To Fix?
According to iFixit, the smartphone has several modular components that can be easily replaced, except for its humungous 4,000 mAh battery. Although replacing the battery of a Huawei P20 Pro with a new one is possible, it does take up some time and effort to get things going.
The site also pointed out that similar to the Samsung Galaxy S9, the P20 Pro has a display panel on the front and a glass panel on the back, increasing the risk of breakage. Replacing the screen requires going through no less than two layers of adhesive in addition to some disassembly. This is yet another case where clever internal packaging comes at the expense of repairability.
All Huawei P20 Pro Cameras Have OIS
The P20 Pro's most unique feature is its three-camera setup on the rear panel, which includes a 40 MP RGB camera, a 20MP monochrome camera, and an 8MP telephoto camera. The cameras allow users to shoot videos in super slow motion like the Galaxy S9 and enjoy other features like extreme zoom and enhanced night mode.
iFixit's teardown also revealed that all three cameras feature Optical Image Stabilization or OIS. For the uninitiated, OIS reduces the blurring and stabilizes the recorded image or video. However, Huawei has officially revealed that only its 8MP camera is OIS-enabled.
The China-based company has maintained that the other two cameras are equipped with the AI-based Neural Processing Units, which has been promoted as AI Image Stabilization on Huawei's website. This feature allows the camera to take stunning long exposure shots that is useful for low-light conditions while still maintaining the sharpness of the image.
