Vivo X7 Plus Repairability Assessment

Reference photos.

T2 screws on the bottom, but tough clips secure the case, making the screws superfluous.

Tough prying procedure is made slightly simpler by the larger form factor, more space between clips and more flexibility.

Interior reference.

Battery is readily accessible and pull tabs make removal easy.

• Instructions are somewhat ambiguous, but it's hard to mess it up.

Removal of the speaker/antenna assembly is immediately possible.

The next layer of components out are: Interconnect cable, antenna interconnect cable, button cable, brackets, SIM eject lever, and front facing camera.

Interconnect cable attached to the rear of the daughterboard is annoying.

Removal of daughterboard and interconnect cable.

The daughterboard is relatively bare, but two high-wear mechanical parts make repair more expensive for either headphone jack or charging port replacement.

Next removable components are the home button bracket, followed by home button.

The only upper component immediately removable is the vibrator bracket.

• But not the vibrator, which is trapped under the motherboard.

Motherboard is next to come out.

Once the motherboard is removed, the rear-facing camera can be removed. Also the rubber bumper on the flash/proximity sensor portion of the main board.

The final components off of the display assembly are the vibrator and speaker.

Last-out display that is fused and mounted to a frame means a cracked screen is a time-consuming, expensive repair.

The Vivo X7 Plus earns a 7 out of 10 on our repairability scale (10 is the easiest to repair):

• Battery is fairly easily accessible and removable.
• Parts could be more modular, especially mechanical/high wear components.
• The opening procedure is very tough, but easier than on the smaller model.
• The single unit display assembly is annoying to reach, and will be a costly part.
• Manufacturer does not provide user-accessible repair documentation.