Samsung Galaxy S10e Battery Replacement

Written By: Adam O'Camb

Comments: 59

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

Time Required

1 - 2 hours

Introduction

Use this guide to replace the battery in your Samsung Galaxy S10e.

The battery is held in place with strong adhesive. High concentration (over 90%) isopropyl alcohol will make the battery removal process much easier.

For your safety, discharge your battery below 25% before disassembling your phone. This reduces the risk of a dangerous thermal event if the battery is accidentally damaged during the repair.

If your battery is swollen, take appropriate precautions and do not heat your phone.

Tools

Parts

Step 1

Opening your phone will compromise its waterproof seals. Have replacement adhesive ready before you proceed, or take care to avoid liquid exposure if you reassemble your phone without replacing the adhesive.
Turn your phone off completely before you begin this repair.
Prepare an iOpener and heat the back of the phone along the right edge for about two minutes. This will help soften the adhesive securing the back cover.
You may need to reheat and reapply the iOpener several times to get the phone warm enough. Follow the iOpener instructions to avoid overheating.
A hair dryer, heat gun, or hot plate may also be used, but be careful not to overheat the phone—the OLED display and internal battery are both susceptible to heat damage.

L'écran OLED et la la batterie

Isidore LECHAT -

My s10e is 4 years old now and I found glue had weakend and heating was uneccissary.

ervan.hady -

I purchased my S10e refurbished, so the exact age and prior repairs are unknown. I believe it had ~200 charge cycles. After 2.5 years, the side adhesive started to fail and there was a noticeable slit under the rear cover. It was unclear if the lithium battery was starting to swell, which would have been a more dangerous thing. As such, 3 out of the 4 sides were easy to open just with sliding the pick.

I heated the iOpeners for 30s in my 1000W microwave and it reached a temp of 180oF. I placed this on the final corner and it released fairly easily.

WL1 -

Is 180 degrees a good temperature to set the air temperature to if a heat gun is used?

Gee Foe -

Mine released without heat, just caught the edge with a fingernail and was able to work it free without any tools.

Gee Foe -

I would definitely NOT use a heat gun; the iOpener is the right thing to use. I've repaired many devices and I have lots of heat guns, but a heat gun puts out a tremendous amount of heat, and spreads it everywhere instead of in a controlled manner. The iOpener is about 150 F -- just getting uncomfortable to touch -- and the heat is all in a thin strip. You want to gently heat the edges of the cover, not cook the battery and electronics. Smart phones are expensive and the iFixit tools are cheap. Don't risk your phone to save a few bucks.

MikeT-NYC -

Step 2

In the following steps, you'll be cutting through the adhesive securing the back cover.
The adhesive is laid out as seen in the first image, which shows the inside of the cover after it has been removed.
As seen from the outside of the phone, you'll be slicing through the adhesive in the highlighted areas.
The adhesive is the thinnest on the right side of the phone, just below the Bixby button.

glad to see Samsung has improved back glass quality since the tortilla chip on the Note 5. much friendlier to open.

Steve B - 05/09/19

My S10e was two years old so the adhesive was really weak, and it was really simple to open. Still, this guide was totally useful.

Rafael Sánchez Treviño -

That's encouraging, hopefully the older-than-2 years S10e I'm looking to do proves as easy to open-

Gee Foe -

Mine was fairly easy, 3 years old and I was able to just pick it open carefully using only my fingernails. The hard part was the battery, which I did slowly to reuse the original adhesive, getting it off in one continuous strip.

Gee Foe -

Step 3

Secure a suction cup to the back cover, as close to the heated edge as possible, just under the Bixby button where the adhesive is thinnest.
The suction cup will not make a good seal on the curved portion of the glass, so avoid putting it on the very edge.
If the phone's back cover is cracked, the suction cup may not stick. Try lifting it with strong tape, or superglue the suction cup in place and allow it to cure so you can proceed.

La ventouse n'adhérera pas correctement sur la partie incurvée de la vitre ,

Sur la partie incurvée de la coque.

Isidore LECHAT -

Step 4

Prop up the heated edge of the phone on something that is about 0.5 inches (13 mm) thick. This will angle the phone so that the opening tool is easier to insert.
Lift the back cover's right edge with your suction cup, opening a slight gap between the back cover and the frame.
This may require a significant amount of force. If you have trouble, apply more heat to further soften the adhesive, and try again. The adhesive cools very fast, so you may need to heat it repeatedly.
If you're using an iOpener, follow the heating instructions to avoid overheating it, or the gel pack may burst.
Press the edge of an opening tool into the gap.
The rear glass can break if you use too much force or attempt to pry with metal tools.

Step 5

Slide the opening tool along the right edge of the phone to slice through the adhesive securing the back cover.

I found that using opening picks for the entire repair was much easier then the pry tool, but that could just be me

Jake Simek - 25/02/21

You are criminals! This "tutorial" is full of destructive instructions. And whenever trying to make a comment, iFixid admin hides behind the bot personality telling: "Your comment was marked as spam"

People, do not trust them! They tell you everything to break your phone so you will need to bring it to service!

Someone fromjapan -

You are criminals! No one ever should use the triangular "mediator" pick for iPhones, or planar connector picks! The back cover is NOT gorilla-glass, and it will crack in multiple places immediately! Only very thin "watchmaker" opening plates(initial pickup) and 0.1mm rigid PP stripes (cut from cheap tool packages, or 7-eleven food packs) may be used there. Before that the side rim - not the cover itself should be heated to boiling point and constantly re-heated while tearing the two-sided scotch. The opening strip may be replaced 2-3 times while reaching the opposite side, because it collects the torn glue. This instruction from iFixit is a pure sabotage for tricking non-expecting users to repair-shops.
The same goes to battery, if you don't risk using solvents, which may damage the screen and the circuit. Only rounded PP strips may tear off the battery scotch. It should be preheated from the screen side, until the battery becomes hot.

Someone fromjapan -

The commenter who keeps saying "you are criminals" over and over may have been using this guide to repair a different phone, so he or she is confused. On the Galaxy S10e, I had no trouble heating and lifting the cover as described (though I had to reheat the iOpener several times). If you heat it gently with the iOpener and long enough, you're not stressing the back cover because the glue will come loose almost immediately. (I could have almost lifted it with a fingernail).

MikeT-NYC - 13/01/24

Step 6

Insert an opening pick into the edge next to the opening tool. Leave the pick here to prevent the separated glue from re-adhering.

Step 7

Apply a heated iOpener to the top edge of the phone for two minutes.

Step 8

Insert an opening pick near the top right corner of the phone and slide it around the corner and across the top edge of the phone.
The glued area is larger here, so you'll need to insert your pick farther into the phone to separate it.
Leave the opening pick in place to prevent the adhesive from re-adhering.

This was the only part on my phone that had viable adhesive after it started to naturally separate.

WL1 -

Step 9

Apply a heated iOpener to the left edge of the phone for two minutes.

Insérez un nouveau médiator à côté du bord

Insérer un autre mediator

Isidore LECHAT -

Step 10

Insert a new opening pick near the top left corner and slide it along the left edge of the phone.
Again, leave the opening pick in place in the left edge of the phone to prevent the adhesive from resealing.

Step 11

Apply a heated iOpener to the bottom edge of the phone for two minutes.

Step 12

Insert an opening pick near a bottom corner of the phone, and slide it along the bottom edge of the phone to separate the adhesive there.
The glued area is larger here, so you'll need to insert your pick farther into the phone to fully separate it.

Step 13

Use the opening picks to very carefully pry up the back cover.
If you encounter any resistance, stop prying and use an opening pick to cut any remaining adhesive.
Remove the back cover.

WARNING: Once the cover is off, protect both the inside of the camera window in the back and the camera lens in the phone itself with pieces of paper held on by masking tape. This will prevent accidentally getting cleaner or fingerprints on them.

MikeT-NYC -

Step 14

Follow this guide to reinstall the back cover and replace the adhesive.
Be sure to turn on your phone and test your repair before installing new adhesive and resealing the phone.
If desired, you may reinstall the back cover without replacing the adhesive. Remove any large chunks of adhesive that might prevent the back cover from sitting down flush. After installation, heat the back cover and apply pressure to secure it. It won't be waterproof, but the leftover adhesive is usually more than strong enough to hold.

This should be the very last step in the guide, but the edit button seems to only allow editing the content, not the positioning in the guide. Not sure how to fix this.

James Beegle -

The photo seems to show someone lifting the old glue off with tweezers. That certainly wasn't true for my glue! I scrubbed it off with isopropyl alcohol and fabric. (Don't use a paper towel or Kleenex because they fall apart. I used a postage-stamp-size square cut from an old athletic sock. With this and the alcohol I was able to get the cover and the phone as clean as they were at the factory.

When doing this, hold the phone at an angle in your other hand so any alcohol dribble to the outside and not to anywhere important.

MikeT-NYC -

Step 15

Remove the eight 3.9 mm Phillips screws securing the upper midframe to the phone.

Again, criminal lies! These screws have different length! Take notes which are where! There are at least 4 versions of antenna/coil modules, so each time it may be a little different.

Someone fromjapan - 23/08/23

Interesting observation! I did not see this comment until after I reassembled the midframe and closed everything, so I can not confirm. If true, I either got lucky or it didn't matter.

WL1 -

I'll note this and see about maintaining the same order for reinstallation -

Gee Foe -

Mine appeared to be all identical, so it was easy

Gee Foe -

The screws on my SM-G970F/DS were all identical.

James Beegle -

The screws in my phone were also identical. I think the "criminal lies" commenter above was confused and was using these instructions to repair a different phone. Too many of his or her comments are just not relevant to this job.

MikeT-NYC -

Step 16

Slide an opening pick under the bottom right corner of the upper midframe to separate the adhesive holding it to the lower midframe.

I also had to use a little bit of heat here from the iOpener.

MikeT-NYC -

Step 17

Insert the point of a spudger in the small cutout on the right edge of the plastic part of the upper midframe, near the Bixby button.
Use the point of the spudger to pry the midframe up from the phone chassis.

Criminals! These instructions are given for breaking your phone! Never use the puncher-picker! The antenna module, after gently unglued in the single spot, is pulled down! Not up! DOWN, I said! And it comes off without any force. Minimal force will be required to push it back (after putting it flat on place).

Someone fromjapan - 23/08/23

Step 18

Lift the midframe by the plastic section and remove it from the phone.
To reinstall, first insert the top edge of the assembly into the phone's frame, and then gently press down on the rest of the assembly to snap it into place.

In my phone there was a lot of residual adhesive on the top section, so I initially just flapped it over like a hinge while I finished the other steps. For me, I found, and it should be emphasized, for the reinstall, the top edge needs to be placed flat and snapped UP into the chassis for it to fit.

WL1 -

Step 19

Use the flat end of a spudger to pry the battery connector straight up from its socket and disconnect it.

This manual is a pure SABOTAGE! Never pick up the connector from the camera side! You risk damaging the camera, and the connector itself. Pick it up gently in two steps from left first, then from right, if it does not jump up immediately.

Someone fromjapan - 23/08/23

Going from the sides also avoids shorting the battery contacts if you use anything other than a non conductive tool. So the side is best.

Gee Foe -

Step 20

This step can be completed using either adhesive remover or high concentration (over 90%) isopropyl alcohol.
Prop the bottom edge of the phone up to angle the phone so that the adhesive remover will run from the bottom of the battery toward the top.
Apply isopropyl alcohol or adhesive remover along the bottom edge of the battery. Allow it to sit for several minutes to allow the adhesive to weaken.

Advice: DO NOT USE TO MUCH ISOPROPANOL! This will damage your display and you will most likely have to replace it. If you know that you won't use this battery anymore just lever it out of the case. It is fairly easy to do with the ifixit Jimmy ( Item # IF145-259-1 ) or the metal spudger. Use these tools with much sensitivity as you could damage the battery case or the display that is right below the battery ( See Step 22 for additional pictures where the frame ends and the screen begins ). Good Luck!

se7enty -

Very valuble tip, thank you! I was going to douse it with probably way more than needed.

I started just with some moderate force jimmying it with the black plastic spudger. I then applied just a few drops of isopranol 90% and the bottom section loosened very easily.

WL1 - 04/09/23

I found the black levering tool did not provide enough force and damaged the tool. I found the blue picks gave me wider and safer leverage to get the battery out.

Also a couple of passes with isopropanol was required before I could make any progress. Note that while you are prying from the bottom, I applied the isoproponal all around the battery as the glue is located all the way around.

ervan.hady -

better to use a length of fishing line or dental floss and slide it under the battery .. very smooth

Sql Lqs -

Do not use alcohol or other liquids! This way I completely ruined my phone. The screen doesn't work. The motherboard is damaged.

johnmickaelivan -

I have used iOpener on screen and it allowed to remove battery without damage to phone. Just heat the iOpener, place it on screen on side where the battery is, and leave it for a few minutes. Check with blue pick on bottom side if battery budges, if not repeat everything. I needed around 4 times to finally take out the battery.

Michał -

You only need a small amount of isopropyl alcohol. I found it easier to apply it with straight tweezers than the dropper in the kit. When the tips of the tweezers are touching, they hold alcohol. When you separate them, they let it go.

MikeT-NYC -

Step 21

Use the flat end of a spudger to carefully pry the battery out of the phone.
Try your best not to deform the battery during this process. Soft-shell lithium-ion batteries can leak dangerous chemicals, catch fire, or even explode if damaged. Do not use excessive force or pry at the battery with metal tools.
If you encounter significant resistance or the battery starts to deform, repeat the last step to further dissolve the adhesive.

That spot at the bottom was the only point with enough clearance for me to start prying, and just allowing it to slowly start separating got the battery out. A very slow process as I was seeing the adhesive come off in a continuous strip, so I did it slowly enough for it to remain intact for reuse, which I did.

Gee Foe -

On my phone, the spudger was far too thick to fit in the space at the beginning. I had to start prying with a small jeweler's screwdriver. That opened the space enough to use the spudger. I think the location of the batteries may vary on different samples.

MikeT-NYC -

Step 22

Remove the battery.
Do not reuse the battery after it has been removed, as doing so is a potential safety hazard. Replace it with a new battery.
To install a new battery and adhesive, follow this guide.

Some final tips for anyone else about to attempt this:

It was unclear just how much of the residual adhesive to remove from both the back plate and the phone frame. Would leaving just a little affect the seal? I eventually realized (probably later than most) the back plate adhesive is a large cutout sticker, exactly the same as the ifixit provided one. If you can pull up a small edge and have access to some small clamping forceps (hemostat for medical folks), you can use this to slowly peel off the sticker all the way around. There are 2 small 'islands' of adhesive you will need to peel off separately. Removing all of this from the backplate is definitely needed, otherwise attaching a sticker of adhesive onto the old one will be too thick.

For the phone frame, I used the spudger to push around some adhesive but didn't worry too much about it. It is harder to aggressively work on this side as all the adjacent electronics are sensitive.

WL1 - 04/09/23

Con't:

When placing the ifixit backplate adhesive, you must be VERY precise when setting down your first edge. The backplate has some curvature, and you want the edge of the first edge to be JUST inside that curve. Then slowly press down the sticker until the other long end seats down. You want to make sure you push from the middle to the other edge, so that it will align on that curvature instead of just straight down.

The instructions are correct--you really only get 1 chance to place it. You can game this, though, by only gently pressing on the thin strips at first. If you push on the top end near the camera, any large surface area adhesive will stick down and you will not be unsticking it!

WL1 -

Con't:

For the battery adhesive and replacement:

It was unclear just how tightly the battery needed to be re-adhered. Is it really going to shake around that much? But I figured we don't want anything jostling or pulling on the thin battery connector cable.

I used a spudger to VERY gently work the old adhesive off all 4 sides. It looks like there are wires/trace running through the underlying foil-like surface, so you probably do not want to damage that in any way. Also the screen is right underneath that!

I cut 2 strips only of the included tesla tape and stuck that on the 2 long sides. I did not expose the battery side tape yet.

VERY IMPORTANT: Put the battery in and connect the wire. The ifixit battery is smaller than the OEM, so there is a lot of possible movement. The wire also wasn't exactly perpendicular. In fact, it took some finagling to get the wire to actually connect. I found that in my case, the battery was seated right at the bottom/base of the compartment for the wire to sit properly.

WL1 -

Con't:

I disconnected the battery and exposed the sticky battery side of my 2 strips of tesla tape. I put the battery against the bottom, where I knew the wire would be in the proper position. The battery adhered and I reconnected the wire.

Hope this helps everyone else!

WL1 -

One more thing:

Water resistance testing

There is an app that may be a safe way to see if your reassembly is good enough to quality for water resistance: https://play.google.com/store/apps/detai...

Basically it uses the barometer in the phone to determine this. If your phone is a closed system, pressing on the screen should cause the pressure to increase from baseline, as there are no gaps for air to leave.

If your phone is an open system with a leak, pressure on the screen will be released through the leak in the phone's side, meaning water could easily enter from that same spot. The air pressure will not change with a leak.

This app was in fact the way I discovered my adhesive was splitting. I ran it for fun before going to the beach, where to my surprise it showed a failure. Previously it did not! I have no financial interest in this app, I just like it and I purchased the add-on which is not necessary for the app to function. I use it to test any refurb.

WL1 -

Very helpful pointer to that water resistance test app, I actually just reused all the original stickem of the back cover and the battery, because I went the lowest cost option of just buying a new old stock battery from eBay for $11, which came with nothing in the way of replacement adhesive.

The water resistance test showed a failure, which passed before the replacement, so it does give a good indication of air tightness.

I then used Kapton tape to seal around the whole perimeter, and now the test passes again. It doesn't look elegant in the least, but I prefer being able to change the battery quickly and easily if the need should ever come up again.

Testing with Accurately showed an increase in health percentage from 71 to 86 percent, which rolled the clock back by two years based on the prior history, which I'm satisfied with.

Gee Foe -

Dust warning:

The only part where dust would be very annoying would be on the camera lenses. When reassembling, I made sure that there were no dust particles on the inside of the backplate or on the camera lens itself. You won't be able to clean that out once you seal your phone again!

WL1 -

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

For optimal performance, calibrate your newly installed battery after completing this guide.

Take your e-waste to an R2 or e-Stewards certified recycler.

Repair didn’t go as planned? Check out our Answers community for troubleshooting help.

Author

Adam O'Camb

Member since: 11/04/15

195421 Reputation

12 comments

I was going to publish this guide but somebody did it already for me. Thanks!

By the way the color of that phone in the guide is hideous in my opinion.

Dinan Blueje - 09/04/19

When you say “moderate” difficulty, how what’s making it difficult or where is the risk coming from? With the right tools, patience, and even a small bit of experience replacing a screen in an admittedly easy Nokia Lumia phone, what could go wrong, and what would you recommend?

Mark Stretton - 05/10/19

Hi Mark, the hardest part of this guide is dealing with all the adhesive without damaging anything. The back cover and the battery are both heavily glued down. To get the back cover off without cracking it, I’d recommend plenty of heat and very patient and gentle prying. If the prying gets really tough, try heating the back a little more. Removing the battery can be tough as well, but using adhesive remover helps a lot. Follow the steps in the guide and make sure you give the adhesive remover a few minutes to soak in. If prying gets difficult, add a little more adhesive remover and wait a couple minutes before continuing. Hope that helps!

Adam O'Camb - 20/11/19

We ran into the problem of the octa not seperating with the back glass. We were using the AoD JIG. What do u recommend as the next step in that instance?

rfralin - 25/10/19

If I buy the kit from ifixit, are the battery going to be relatively new? or the batteries have been seating in shelves since OEM days.

Reaz Tahmidur Rahman -

Yes, I bought a kit about a month ago and the manufacting date of the s10e replacement battery was 28 August 2022.

ervan.hady -

For future reference, I purchased mine in late 7/2023 and the date stamped on the battery was 5/19/23.

WL1 -

The OEM replacement I got from eBay, admittedly cheap at $11, actually had a manufacture date a month before the one I took out, but maybe less cycle time on it, so I'll see how it performs. It measured 4.16V out of the box, so I don't know if the seller charged it up before shipping it out or if it could actually retain full charge for that long.

Gee Foe -

Hello. After 3+ years of using S10e, I would like to replace the battery. I live in Europe and the battery replacement kit is not available on the EU store website. I cannot order the kit from the States because of shipping restrictions.

Can you please tell me where can I buy the replacement kit for my device? Is it possible to order one to EU store somehow?

And why is one not available in the EU store? I'm not being entitled, just puzzled and curious.. I see kits for devices older than mine so I can only guess.

Ivan Kusturin -

I also have this phone for 3+ years. Battery is overheating a lot, especially with high screen brightness in summer, and does not last so much anymore. I am also looking into ordering a new battery, back cover, and repair kit for my Samsung S10e in Europe (Belgium).

Cyril Dewez -

where I could buy samsung galaxy s10e battery?

Casey Escobia -

Just finished battery replacement, worst part was taking out the battery. What helped me was putting iOpener on screen and checking every few minutes on battery if it will give up.
Also, battery from iFixit is not as good as I would think. Connector has a slight difference with original. Barely visible difference, yet plugging it was a challenge. I have brut forced it a little, but in the end it sits. But then another issue - cable is a little too long, which means that instead of lying flat, it bends a little. I had to squash it, I hope it will be fine for a time being. I am writing all this here because for some I can't give battery a review.
Cool from iFixit to provide fundamentals, but there are some details which unfortunately lay flat.

Michał -