Motorola is the first major iFixit phone manufacturer to provide official aftermarket parts

Telephone companies usually want to prevent you from repairing your own devices or even going to a third-party repair shop. But Motorola takes a different approach: it's a partnership with I fix it, the site of reputable repair guides for disassembling devices, offers battery and screen replacement kits for a number of its phones.

Kits range from $ 40 to $ 200 and include essential spare parts – a battery or display and digitizer – as well as many specialized tools you will need to perform the repair, such as tweezers and screw bits . Each is associated with an online guide that explains the steps to complete the repair yourself.

I fix it claims that Motorola is the "leading smartphone manufacturer" to provide the official parts of its repair kits. You have long been able to buy parts from I fix it to help you repair your own device, but these parts were not purchased directly from the company. This is not a problem as long as the parts work, but there is certainly an additional guarantee when they come directly from the source.

It's great that Motorola is willing to offer these parts via I fix it to help customers who want to repair their devices themselves. However, there are a number of caveats: it appears that you will void the warranty of your phone if you attempt a repair and you do damage, despite the use of official parts. These kits are therefore intended for people who want to keep their phone long after Motorola is always ready to repair it. (The kits are mostly sold for old phones, so that's okay.)

The kits are also more expensive than comparable kits for iPhone, for example, probably because of this partnership. For the iPhone 7, a battery replacement kit costs $ 29 and a screen replacement kit costs $ 70. For Motorola, drum kits cost $ 40 and most screen kits sell for $ 100.

You could save money by doing it yourself, but you might also encounter a warning like this in one of the online guides: "An injury can occur if this procedure is not followed properly." You accept a certain level of risk phone and also yourself) trying to repair yourself.

I fix itThe site lists 17 Motorola repair kits (although not all of them are currently on sale), including devices such as Moto Z Force, Z Play, Droid Turbo 2, G5 and G4. At the end of the day, while DIY repairs can be a bit difficult, it's good for Motorola to support consumers' ability to fix their own devices while other companies try to keep them safe.