iFixit Tears Down Kindle Fire HD and Gave It a Fair Repairability Score

As always, popular new devices get a full treatment on iFixit’s operating table. Before removing any screw, iFixit technicians already observed that the Fire HD seems to be significantly different than the original Fire. In terms of procedures needed to open the back case, the Kindle Fire HD is quite easy to crack open. Once opened, they were surprised to know that the tablet’s battery is fully enclosed in a metal casing. This could be meant to shield the battery from possible electrical damages and shocks. The replaceable, stand-alone headphone jack is also another shocker for iFixit’s experts.

Other components they discovered during the teardown are headphone jack ribbon cable, front-facing camera ribbon cable, microphone, ambient light sensor and WiFi antenna. Unfortunately, they encountered problem when trying to wrench apart the front glass panel and LCD, which seem to be fused together. Consequently, the whole display assembly must be replaced completely, even if it suffers only a light internal damage. Overall, iFixit gave the Kindle Fire HD a repairability score of 7, with 10 being the easiest to repair.