Nokia’s G42 continues the drive towards user-replaceable parts
You can replace the screen, battery, back cover and even the charging port
Nokia’s G42 follows up the G22 as another repairable smartphone.
HMD Global – the maker of Nokia phones – clearly believes it’s a compelling reason to buy one of its phones and on the 6GB memory/128GB storage version that costs £199/€249 G42 you can replace the screen, battery, back cover and even the charging port, though it isn’t quite in the same league as the Fairphone series.
A 4GB memory version will also be available in some European markets starting from €229. There are no current plans for a US launch of the devices.
We know that, just as with its USB-C mandate, the EU is keen to make smartphone batteries user-replaceable sometime before 2030.
HMD’s head of marketing Adam Ferguson says that it is doing phones like the G22 and G42 because it’s what consumers want. “Even when it does [pass] that [legislation} that would still be many years away from implementation”, he said.
The specs are predictably modest, but are an upgrade on the G22, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 Plus processor on board alongside a 50MP main camera and a couple of 2MP cameras for depth and macros. There’s an 8MP unit on the front.
Once again repair specialist iFixit is involved, enabling you to buy spare parts for the devices. It’s fairly easy to replace the battery in these devices – though it isn’t tool-free – and you’ll need to buy the parts of course. HMD guarantees the parts will be available through iFixit for five years, though somewhat frustratingly it only guarantees three years of security updates for Android 13.
Speaking to Stuff on this topic, Ferguson was quite clear on the issue there – money. “There is a cost to every additional OS update and even security that you build in. So whilst you’re able to build in many, many more years in devices that are £400, £500, or £900, down at the sort of £199 level, it really becomes a struggle to continue to do that.”
Dan Grabham
Editor-in-Chief 
