Improvements for cell phones has been shown by right-to-repair scorecard

Through a “Failing to Fix” scorecard, data around which electronics are more repairable and which electronics have not improved has been collected. This year, data showed that U.S. Public Interest Research Group stated that ‘cell phones overall are getting more repairable, while laptops have stagnated.’

The first version of the U.S. PIRG scorecard came out in 2022 and it was in July 2024 when a “Leaders and Laggards” report card was released. The “Leaders and Laggards” showed a score of twenty one products on the availability of repair materials, which was based on New York’s right-to-repair law.

A ranking system for laptops was quickly created and this was scored as follows: Asus (A-), Acer (B+), Dell (B-), Microsoft (B-), Samsung (B-), HP (C), Apple (C-), Lenovo (F).

When the 2025 update was released, it was revealed that Apple’s and Google’s cellphones received a B-, whilst Motorpol’s received a C+ and finally, Samsung’s got a C-. This data was compared to statistics in 2022, which highlighted that beforehand Apple had scored an F, Google has received a D, whilst Motorola got a B and Samsung received a C.

The report made it clear that overall, cellphones from major manufacturers are finally being changed and becoming more repairable.

On the other hand, the report also showed that laptop repairability has now plateaued and furthermore, there has been no significant improvement throughout the eight most popular brands based within the U.S.

The report said, “Specifically, they have all gotten easier to disassemble, which is what makes the biggest difference for people who want to open up the phone to fix it. Apple had the most improvement in this area, followed by Motorola. While Apple and Dell laptops both saw some improvement in ease of disassembly (though Apple still fares the worst by far), the other brands saw minimal to no change from 2024 to 2025.”

Overall, it has been made clear from this data, that the biggest takeaway from this year’s data is that, “devices are getting more repairable, but it’s not happening fast enough.”

The report’s final statement said, “In other words, advocating for Right to Repair is having an impact, but there’s still a lot of work left to do.”