Repairability scores give a single number for something with several independent components. The number is useful, and the parts it cannot capture often decide whether a repair actually happens.
The score measures disassembly
Scoring typically assesses how easily a device opens, whether fasteners are standard, how much adhesive is used and how deeply the commonly failing parts are buried.
That assessment is performed once, on a new unit, by someone experienced with the category. It describes the design rather than the experience of a repair years later.
Adhesive that yields cleanly on a new device becomes much harder after years of heat cycling, so the assessment is systematically optimistic about older units.
Parts availability is a separate question
A device that opens easily cannot be repaired without a replacement component, and availability depends on manufacturer policy, distribution and how long production continues.
Availability also declines over time, usually beginning at the point where repairs become most frequent. A design scoring well can be effectively unrepairable within a few years.
Independent supply exists for popular models through salvaged and third-party components, which makes market size a factor in real repairability regardless of design.
Price decides whether repair is chosen
A repair costing a large fraction of the replacement price is rarely selected, so component pricing determines outcomes as much as physical feasibility does. Feasible and worthwhile are separate tests.
Modules that combine several parts raise this cost sharply, since one failed component forces replacement of everything bundled alongside it. A single failed camera can require an entire assembly.
Labour is charged on top, and awkward designs consume more of it, so a poor disassembly score raises the price of the repair even where every part is readily available.
Software can prevent a completed repair
Some devices verify that components are recognised, and an unpaired part may be refused or have functions disabled even when it is genuine and correctly fitted.
Where pairing requires manufacturer tooling, repair depends on access to that tooling rather than on the physical work, which no disassembly score can reflect.
Documentation and diagnostics matter more than they appear
Repair begins with identifying the faulty component, and without service documentation or diagnostic access that step can take longer than the replacement itself.
Manufacturers that publish manuals and sell parts openly change the practical outcome substantially, even where the physical design is only moderately friendly.
Comparing devices sensibly therefore means reading the score as one input alongside parts policy, pricing and whether any software step stands between a fitted component and a working device.