Hot news from the teardown table: The most repairable smartwatch on the market isn’t from Fairphone or Framework. It’s from Google.
The Pixel Watch 4 looks nearly identical to last year’s model on the outside, but inside it’s been completely reengineered for repairability. Gone is the glue, the frustration, and the heartbreak. In its place: screws, seals, and pure design joy.
Smartwatches aren’t a particularly repairable category; most watches on the market have earned 3s and 4s out of 10. This design, on the other hand, has truly impressed us.
Before we dive in, a quick note. iFixit does have a business relationship with Google that’s unrelated to our teardown work (our editorial team tries hard to stay out of the business side of things). But if we sound extra giddy here, that’s because this thing is actually repairable, and we can’t help ourselves.
The most repairable smartwatch on the market isn’t from Fairphone or Framework.
Neither do produce smartwatches at all, so that’s a non-statement.
What? The most repairable fridge on the market is not from Fairphone or framework??
Honestly shameful of both companies to not expand to all electronics categories. What’s taking so long?
Really curious how repairable the new pebbles will be
Garmin has sold smartwatches with replaceable batteries for years. I tested and documented replacing the battery myself.
Open the back with a tool, unhook the old battery, swap in the new, re-assemble— and it’s waterproof!
https://mark.stosberg.com/how-to-replace-the-battery-in-a-garmin-fenix-5-plus-watch/
Love my Garmin, and after 6 years I only get 7-10 days on a charge unless I go heavy on GPS and music (I’ll get around to changing the battery, promise, basically does everything I want from a smartwatch anyway, I’m unlikely to upgrade until continuous blood pressure is actually a thing), however the battery is glued and the Pixel’s is not, so, kudos where due (still wouldn’t touch it with a pike pole, specially compared to a Garmin).
That’s unexpected
Google is actually pretty good with reparability when it comes to their phones I’m not surprised their watches are the same.
That’s actually cool as fuck.
I’m very happy with my little digital Casio, but I’m super excited that others who use a smartwatch may have real options for repair!!
Hopefully the new pebble that’s coming out can be super repairable to! And someone else mentioned Garmin being excellent, which makes me really happy ☺️
It’s a shame they have such an awful battery life, I just bought a mi band because of the 21 day battery, my first gen Fitbit sense was quite good with a 4 day life at first but having to charge it or the new pixel watches on a daily basis just angers my ADHD brain.
mi band
I’ve got an older one, and in terms of tracking things like heartrate I swear it just guesses based on step counting.
Do they allow bootloader unlocking?
Cool but pass
But is it good? I’ve purchased two Android Wear watches. They both had to be charged at least daily. Both of the watches I purchased, which were different models from different manufacturers with different charger designs, and a third watch that was shipped to me as a replacement all developed a fault where eventually they could not be charged. Google has removed the “don’t” from “don’t be evil” so even if this watch could go multiple days without charging and could be seen in bright light and didn’t unexpectedly light up in dark rooms and didn’t permanently stop charging after a year or two, I don’t know if I would want to buy one. The only problem I’ve had with my Garmin watch was that the band wore out and I had to replace it.
