Following the tradition, iFixit has performed a teardown of the Pixel 3 XL giving some insight into the phone’s hardware. Interestingly, it is found that the Pixel 3 XL is using an OLED panel from Samsung. iFixit also mentioned that it is fairly difficult to open the Pixel 3 XL, due to copious amounts of foam adhesive.
Internal components of the Pixel 3 XL include 4GB of LPDDR4X DRAM from Micron, 64GB of Skhynix flash storage, the Pixel Visual Core, the Google Titan M security chip, and a Qi wireless charging receiver from IDT. Other components from Qualcomm, including the main Snapdragon 845 processor, radios, and an audio codec chip. Following the epic backslash from last year’s Pixel 2 XL display, Google seems to be playing safe by going with Samsung panel despite investing in LG display.
However, replacing a Pixel 3 screen will be tricky, and will most likely require replacing the whole frame of the phone. iFixit says that the vibration motor on the Pixel 3 XL is said to be improved from last year, capable of providing more precise haptic feedback. The Pixel 2 XL rear glass covered 20% of the phone, while it is 100% crackable on the Pixel 3 XL which doesn’t bode well for repairability.
As a final thought, iFixit said that the Pixel 3 XL has repair-friendly stretch-release adhesive that secures the battery. The O-rings and adhesives for waterproofing complicate repairs but makes difficult liquid damage repairs less likely. The display repairs are much more difficult than previous models, requiring complete disassembly of the phone. All in all, iFixit gave the Pixel 3 XL a repairability score of 4/10.