Google’s first foray into the world of smartwatches wasn’t quite a stellar hit, but three generations later, the Pixel Watch has truly matured. The Pixel Watch 4 has won nearly universal praise for its beautiful looks, rewarding software, reliable fitness tracking, and great battery life. But there’s another area where this one notches a crucial victory — ease of repair.
Oh, how the fortunes have changed
When the first-generation Pixel Watch hit the shelves, it missed the mark in a few crucial areas, but at the same time, its internal engineering also received some flak. The folks over at iFixit tore it down and gave it a poor 4/10 on the repairability index.
The teardown experts mentioned that its “battery requires some contortion and lots of component removal to access,” and that the fused cable design for the crown button means “no replacing stuck switches, at least without some collateral damage.”
The Pixel Watch 4, on the other hand, has earned a reparability score of 9/10 by iFixit. “The most repairable smartwatch on the market isn’t from Fairphone or Framework. It’s from Google,” says iFixit’s teardown analysis of the latest Google smartwatch. For comparison, the Apple Watch Series 10 was awarded a 4/10 score for ease of repair.
What’s different this time around?
Starting at the very basic level, iFixit notes that the screws are easily accessible and they help maintain the IP68-tier water resistance with their O-Ring design. Beyond the accessibility, it seems prying open the watch is not a hot, gooey nightmare. “No heat, no solvent, no glue,” iFixit notes.
Google’s engineers also did something clever with the outer screws, which help with the ingress protection by pressing against the rear seal when they are tightened. In fact, component replacement is fairly easy on this one without the risk of damaging the sensor hub.
The Pixel Watch 4 has also ditched the notorious flex cables in favor of pogo pin contacts that keep the vibration motor as well as the battery in place. Talking about the battery, it also ditches the ugly glue and yellow tape of its progenitor. “It’s simple, serviceable, and sustainable,” concludes the iFixit review, with a proverbial standing ovation for the Pixel Watch 4 and some cheeky jibes at the Apple Watch.
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