A teardown of the Galaxy A14 5G has recently surfaced online, uncovering a few unexpected details about the phone’s construction and design. The back panel of the device conceals a feature that has been absent in Samsung phones of late, and this attribute could help the phone earn a high repairability score.
You can check out the video below for a closer look at the teardown process (via PBKreviews), but to save you the suspense: the Galaxy A14 5G has an adhesive pouch with a pull tab for the battery.
This is a big deal for Samsung smartphone repairers and DIY enthusiasts, and it signals an important shift in the company’s design philosophy.
Samsung had been using strong adhesives to fit batteries inside its phones, regardless of whether they were low-cost or high-end. This made the repair process a lot more difficult and somewhat risky, as people had to use heat guns to loosen up the old adhesive before replacing the battery.
Galaxy A14 5G owners won’t face this issue. Samsung utilized a reusable adhesive pouch for the A14’s battery, which means that the energy storage unit can be easily removed and replaced with a new one without needing users to apply any adhesive. This and other characteristics earned the Galaxy A14 5G a repairability score of 8/10.
A surprising unibody design with a modern look
The Galaxy A14 5G follows Samsung’s exterior design language for 2023, featuring almost flat edges and a flat back panel with circular cutouts for each rear-facing camera.
But surprisingly enough, despite its appearance, the Galaxy A14 5G has a unibody, meaning that the back panel and the frame come in one piece. So, the phone may look similar to the Galaxy S23, but it’s nothing like the 2023 flagship in the way it was constructed.
The Galaxy A14’s frame is flexible and made of the same material as the back panel. The Galaxy S23 should have a metal frame sandwiched between two glass panels.
It remains to be seen if the Galaxy S23 series (or other Samsung phones released this year) will adopt the adhesive pouch for the battery. However, Samsung has been making efforts to improve repairability and sustainability, and the company may have to make batteries easier to remove to comply with EU regulations. Consequently, the Galaxy A14 5G may not be the only phone for 2023 to have ditched adhesives for the battery. All in all, this is a win for consumers who want to extend the life of their products.
