Samsung hasn't shied away from talking up the heatpipe cooling technology in its new Galaxy S7 series smartphones. We've more or less been led to believe that this heatpipe cooling system was an integral part of the device and while it does exist and it does do what it is designed to do, it's rather underwhelming in the flesh.
The teardown team at iFixit recently got their hands on a Galaxy S7 and have published their findings for all to see.
Aside from the heatpipe (which we will get to shortly), the major takeaways here include the fact that many components are modular and can be replaced independently and that the battery can be removed without first having to take out the motherboard. Unfortunately, the display needs to be removed (and likely destroyed) to replace the USB port while front and back glass make for double the crackability. What's more, replacing the glass without destroying the display is probably impossible.
As it turns out, the heatpipe we've heard so much about is far less dramatic than one might think. iFixit described it as "teeny" which seems fitting when you consider it measures less than half a millimeter thick and is composed of less than half a gram of material. Nevertheless, it does appear to be functional, helping to transfer heat from the device's various chips (including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820) to the phone's midframe.
All things considered, iFixit awarded the Samsung Galaxy S7 a repairability score of three out of 10 (the higher the number, the easier it is to repair).
All images courtesy iFixit