HTC One M9 teardown shows that a cracked screen may be tough to replace

The HTC One M9 is definitely one of the most well-designed smartphones of this year, so wouldn’t it be great if we could see what exactly goes in to making a phone like this? The folks at iFixit recently tore a One M9 to shreds, revealing tons of adhesives and a glued down motherboard.

Much like the One M8, the One M9 didn’t require any heating whatsoever to remove the back panel. But once they began digging in a bit more, they noticed that HTC actually glued the motherboard down, allowing the battery and motherboard to be sandwiched together. Why is this a bad idea? Toying with lithium-ion batteries is very dangerous. If you need to replace a piece that’s generally common to swap out such as the motherboard, you could run into some problems when trying to pry it out. The battery is also glued down, making it extra difficult to replace it, too.

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We’ve all been there – you’re outside of your one-year warranty and you drop your phone right on the screen. If you find the right person to replace it, the repairs can be relatively cheap and easy. But unfortunately for the One M9 it may be a little more difficult to replace than you might think. The display assembly is tough to replace without tunneling though the entire device, so even a cracked screen – one of the most common repairs – can be difficult to achieve. Hopefully you won’t have to take matters into your own hands thanks HTC’s Uh-Oh protection plan.

Since the One M9 and One M8 are very similar in build quality, it’s no surprise that iFixit scored the One M9 a 2 out of 10 (10 is the easiest to repair). For more images and details on the teardown, be sure to head to the source link below.