Repair Score › EU repairability score
What is the EU repairability score (A–E)?
A plain-English guide to the A–E repairability class the EU now prints on the energy label of new phones and tablets — what each grade means, when it started, and how it differs from the energy-efficiency class.
Since 20 June 2025, the EU requires new smartphones and tablets sold in the EU to carry an energy label that includes a repairability class from A to E (A = easiest to fix, E = hardest). The class is based on criteria such as how easy the device is to disassemble, how widely spare parts are available, and how much repair information the manufacturer provides. A phone that's easier to repair is also a phone that's less likely to end up as e-waste — repairability is one of the simplest ways to make an existing device last longer instead of replacing it.
What the grades mean
- A — Easy to repair — parts and guides are widely available.
- B — Good repairability — most common fixes are practical.
- C — Moderate — some repairs need a professional.
- D — Hard to repair — limited access to parts or service.
- E — Very hard to repair — expect to replace rather than fix.
Repairability class vs energy class
The A–E repairability class is a different measure from the A–G energy-efficiency class printed on the same label — don't confuse the two. Repairability runs A–E (it tops out at E) and describes how easy the device is to fix. Energy efficiency runs A–G and describes how little power the device uses. A phone can score well on one and poorly on the other; they answer different questions.
EU repairability score vs iFixit score
You may also see independent teardown-based repairability scores, such as those published by iFixit. Those are a different measure from the EU repairability class: the EU class is a mandatory, manufacturer-declared label required by law since 20 June 2025, while third-party teardown scores are produced independently and use their own methodology. The two don't always agree, and neither is "more official" than the other — they're just measuring repairability in different ways.
What "reliable" means here
"Reliable" can mean two things: how rarely a phone develops faults, and how long it stays usable and fixable. Repair Score doesn't hold fault-rate data, so we don't rank phones by breakage — we use official EU data to show what we can verify: repairability class, years of software updates, and battery endurance.
How Repair Score uses this
Our 0–100 longevity score is a transparent blend of official EU data: EU repairability class (40%), guaranteed OS-update years (30%), spare-parts years (20%) and battery endurance (10%). It is our own metric, not an official EU rating — only the underlying values come from EPREL. See the rankings, the phones with the longest software support, or search a specific phone or tablet.