HTC One Teardown: 'Impossible to repair'

We won't lie, getting to this point was an arduous and daunting task. The amount of work required to separate the rear aluminium case and the front case was immense. Our diligent spudgering appears to have permanently mangled the plastic bezel surrounding the aluminium case. This phone was not made with open-ability in mind.

Ease of cracking open device is not a design requirement. Courtesy of iFixit.

The number one standout feature of the One is certainly the aluminium unibody, which required much custom tooling on HTC's part to achieve the perfect fit and finish. Around the camera bezel we find the near-field communications (NFC) antenna and its pressure contacts. NFC has recently become pretty standard in the smartphone industry, something that might have helped the Nexus Q gain more traction last year. With the rear case off, we find the One's report card. It looks like straight As, although at this point we are not sure the repairability score will fare so well.

Shiny unibody. Courtesy of iFixit.

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