The Samsung Galaxy S22 and the S22 Ultra get a mediocre score in iFixit's teardown

iFixit has done a teardown of the Samsung Galaxy S22 and the Galaxy S22 Ultra and has given the phones a score of 3 out of 10 due to a difficult-to-remove battery and tons of adhesive. In the teardown, we can see that the back panel is difficult to pull off because of the super-strong adhesive and an incredibly tight fit.

On the inside, the Galaxy S22 and the Galaxy S22 Ultra both have batteries that are held down by a chunk of strong adhesive and there are no pull tabs to pull the batteries out. iFixit used isopropyl alcohol to loosen the adhesive and a suction cup to remove them. But even after using isopropyl alcohol, taking the batteries out required a lot of force.

Moving on, we see that Samsung is using a lot of thermal material including thermal paste and graphite tape to manage heat. In the case of the Galaxy S22 Ultra, Samsung is taking care of the heat using a 0.4 mm thin Stainless Steel vapor chamber, and for good reason. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 powering the Galaxy S22 Ultra produces a lot of heat and, as a result, throttles aggressively if the cooling system is not up to scratch.

Perhaps the best thing that came out of the iFixit’s teardown of the Galaxy S22 series is the redesigned vibration motor. iFixit called the new vibration motor Samsung’s attempt to “chase a robust Taptic-Engine-like feedback without sacrificing as much space as Apple does.”

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