Teardown confirms Samsung makes the Google Pixel 3 XL display (Update: LG makes the Pixel 3’s)

Update, October 17, 2018 (7:02PM EST): The folks at iFixit also completed a teardown of the regular Pixel 3 and found that the display is an LG OLED. That does not seem to be a bad thing this time around, since we found the display to be a great one with no evidence of the blue shift that tainted the Pixel 2 XL.

Still, it is funny that this seems to be the opposite of last year. While the Pixel 2 had a Samsung OLED, the Pixel 2 XL was stuck with a not-good LG OLED.

Original article: Although general consumers still don’t have the recently-unveiled Google Pixel 3 and Google Pixel 3 XL in their hot little hands quite yet, venerable repair site iFixit does. When iFixit gets ahold of a new device, it knows precisely what to do with it: tear it apart.

As such, the Google Pixel XL teardown just went live at iFixit.com, and it seems to confirm quite a few things.

The most notable thing the Google Pixel 3 XL teardown shows is that Samsung appears to have created the device’s display. This is the same display which just swept the DisplayMate review metrics resulting in an A+ grade, which seemingly puts to rest any concerns of the Pixel 3 XL’s display having the problems the Pixel 2 XL’s display had.

The Google Pixel 2 XL’s display was made by LG, which was also supposed to supply displays for the Apple iPhone XS. However, that device line’s displays were also reportedly produced by Samsung.

With all that in mind, it appears Samsung is still the king of the mobile display world, with little competition coming through.

The rest of the iFixit Google Pixel 3 XL teardown reveals the device will be tricky to repair. The all-glass back of the device (which enables wireless charging) is notoriously difficult to remove without breaking, and the layout of the antenna assemblies and battery get dinged as well for their removal difficulty.

The previously-mentioned Samsung display will be very difficult to remove; in fact, iFixit suggests if you need to replace the display, you’ll have to replace the whole frame of the phone.

iFixit gives the Google Pixel 3 XL an overall repairability score of 4 out of 10, which suggests you should take extra good care of your Pixel 3 when it arrives at your door.

NEXT: We asked, you told us: You won’t be buying the Pixel 3 or Pixel 3 XL