iFixit and Google launch official Pixel parts store

The iFixit and Google partnership that was announced in April is now live. iFixit says that genuine parts for Google smartphones are now for sale in "the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and European countries where Pixel is available."

It looks like iFixit is offering screens, batteries, and rear camera assemblies for most models of the Pixel phone, along with smaller odds and ends like adhesive and cooling graphite tape. Despite the official partnership with Google, we wouldn't call the iFixit Pixel store a comprehensive source of Pixel parts. For the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro—which are currently in production and should have tons of available parts—you can't buy replacement glass back panels, charging ports, front cameras, or any of the delicate cables you could accidentally rip while you're taking the phone apart. Just compare the official Pixel 6 Pro parts list, which has only six items, to any of the iPhone part lists, which have about 30 parts, and you can see there are a lot of missing items.

iFixit says it's just getting started, though, and that it will "continue to add more types of parts to our catalog" for the Pixel 2 and later. For the Pixel 6a, which comes out at the end of July, iFixit is promising "a full selection" of parts "as soon as possible."

iFixit says Google has continually been improving the reparability of its devices, although the repair site never actually scored the Pixel 6 or 6 Pro. (iFixit's last full Pixel teardown was on the Pixel 4 XL in 2019.) iFixit also praised Google's willingness to make software repair tools available online, like an easy-to-use OS flashing tool and a fingerprint reader calibration tool for the Pixel 6. If Google is really concerned about device longevity and reducing e-waste, we would like to see the company match its competitors when it comes to software support, where Google's three years of major OS updates are still lagging behind Samsung (four years) and Apple (five years).