Samsung credits overwhelming demand to
shipping delays on its new Galaxy s4 but
that didn't stop us from getting our
hands on one and as you might expect we
didn't waste any time getting that
highly anticipated Android device onto
our teardown table hi I'm MJ with iFixit
and today we're going to take a look at
Samsung's latest addition to its Galaxy
line the galaxy s4 on the surface not a
whole lot has changed in this new
iteration the dimensions of the s3 and
s4 are nearly identical the most
noticeable change is the slight increase
in screen size from 4.8 inches on the s3
to a nice round 5 inches on the s4 with
the new screen size the Galaxy s4 has a
1920 by 1080 resolution and a whopping
441 pixels per inch even more than the
iPhone 5 other than that the phone is
slightly I mean basically imperceptibly
thinner and lighter but the upgrades on
the inside are a little more noticeable
the processor was upgraded to either the
quad-core 1.9 gigahertz Snapdragon 600
processor or the Exynos 5 octa 8 core
chip depending on where you're ordering
from both of which have a nice 2
gigabytes of RAM as you might expect
with those updated processors the s4 has
been outperforming even the previous
titleholder the HTC One on Geekbench
scoring and is by all accounts a snappy
and responsive device the s4 also has
added LTE support for those of you who
are lucky enough to have it in your area
but these are the facts and figures that
anyone can tell you about what we are
interested in here at iFixit is what's
inside of this device and how easy it's
going to be to take it apart we were
delighted when we discovered that
absolutely zero tools are required to
remove the back panel from the s4 and
not only that but the battery is just as
accessible making battery installation
and replacement a breeze but let's talk
details the battery was given a bump
from 2100 milliamp hours to 2600 but
early battery tests are showing only a
marginal increase in life from the s3
which makes sense given the new hardware
in the s4 after removing the battery we
set our sights on the motherboard but
there were just a couple of components
standing in the way the first was the
mid frame which was super easy to remove
as there were just a few screws and
clips holding it in place the second was
the rear facing camera which deserves
some closer inspection the s4 is where
facing camera boasts 13 megapixels and
LED flash back illuminated sensor and
shoots full 1080p HD video at 30 frames
per second pretty impressive for a
smartphone resting on top of the
motherboard is the sim microSD board and
the fact that it's so easily accessible
scores even more points for the s4 in
terms of repair ability once that board
was removed we got our first good look
at the motherboard while there aren't
any big surprises that doesn't mean the
s4 is lacking in components among the
chips of note are the broad palm
standalone NFC chip no doubt to be used
with features like Google Wallet and the
Qualcomm 7-band 4G LTE chip which is the
same one found in the Nexus 4 but where
is that fancy new processor well it took
some digging but eventually we found it
buried underneath this large samsung
chip with the motherboard out and fully
exposed we continued on with our
teardown pleasantly surprised by the
pile of unused eyeopener's and heat guns
for this teardown the most exotic tool
we use was a pair of tweezers and we use
those to excavate the front-facing 2.1
megapixel camera this is the camera that
will let you use all those nifty
features like the s4 s dual camera mode
that take pictures from both the front
and rear cameras simultaneously so not
only can you take pictures of your food
but you can take pictures of yourself
taking pictures of your food if you know
us at all you can imagine just how
thrilled we are to see Samsung choose a
responsible design that allows for easy
battery replacement offering not only
greater convenience for US consumers but
extending the usable life of the phone
well beyond the lifespan of its battery
additionally most of the components are
modular so if for example the micro SD
card slot goes out you can just swap out
that board and not the entire device a
lot of people have said that modular
design comes at a price and that price
is thickness of the device the s4 at
only 1/100 of an inch thicker than the
iPhone 5 laughs in the face of that
notion and I get to say I told you so
and on that note it's time to talk
repairability we score every device we
tear down for repair ability on a scale
of one to ten ten being the easiest to
repair and one being the most difficult
the samsung galaxy s score scores a
eight out of ten for a heck of a lot of
super high-quality images and detailed
coverage that goes above and beyond what
we've talked about here make sure to
head on over to ifixit.com and check out
the full teardown to keep up to date
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thanks for watching and happy repairing
you