Sony Xperia Pro-I was disassembled in the latest video of PBKreviews, a well-known digital dismantling channel. This machine can be described as one of the more interesting flagships in 2021.
It is a semi-professional device, which should be based on Xperia 1 III, but with different camera modules. But it can be seen from the disassembly video that this is not the case, because the motherboard of Pro-I is completely different from that of Mark III.
To open the phone, you must first remove the back-it is glass, so you need to be careful not to crack it. Then there is a series of standard Phillips screws. Sony did not use special screws or excessive adhesives, so Sony did not deliberately make this phone difficult to repair, but it does.
For example, the charger port is connected to the motherboard via a flexible cord. This makes it easier to replace than a soldered USB-C port. The problem is that you have to remove many components before you can get the port and its cables.
Replacing the screen is also very troublesome have to remove the motherboard, speaker assembly, vibration motor and some other odd parts before you can access the flexible cable of the screen. Interestingly, although some chips use copper tape and graphite film, the chipset does not get any thermal paste or thermal pad to help disperse the heat to the metal shield surrounding it. This shows that the phone cannot handle the continuous load well.
After a thorough review of the Sony Xperia Pro-I, PBKreviews gave the phone a 3/10 score for repairability. Xperia 1 III got a better score, 6/10. If you have a Pro-I, you’d better treat it carefully, repairing is very tricky.