Methodology and editorial standards

Four kinds of information

We use AI to help draft editorial text, alongside automated data imports and calculations. Factual claims are based on the sources we publish; AI-generated text alone is not evidence. The site operator remains responsible for published content and corrections. A page build or import date does not establish that every field was manually reviewed that day, or that a device was tested hands-on. Use the source and observation dates beside the evidence; dated article examples remain snapshots.

What is on the site today, in plain language, is on the blog.

Sources

• EU label data: the product information sheet in the EPREL database, required for phones placed on the EU market from 20 June 2025 (Regulation (EU) 2023/1669). Repairability class A–E, repairability index, battery cycles, update period, drop and water ratings.
• Phone list: phones sold in the EU from 2021, built from the endoflife.date lists for iPhone, Pixel, Galaxy, Fairphone, OnePlus and Motorola, the Xiaomi Security Center update list, and EPREL registrations for Honor, OPPO, realme, Nothing and newer models. Model numbers come from Apple's model-number page, Samsung's own support links and Xiaomi's regulatory pages. For realme, OPPO, OnePlus, HONOR, Nothing, the Pixel 10 series and some POCO phones, we match the EPREL model code to the marketing name using the manufacturer's own pages: UK product-security compliance lists (OPPO, OnePlus, Google), realme's security-update list, spec pages, and HONOR product information sheets. Where those are missing we use GCF certification records. If a manufacturer gives one code more than one name, we leave it out. iPhone Duo is listed from Apple's own pages until the saved endoflife.date iPhone list includes it.
• Release dates: endoflife.date (which links to the manufacturer's announcement) or the Xiaomi Security Center launch date. iPhone Duo is the exception while that saved list does not include it: the sale date (23 October 2026) is taken from Apple's newsroom. No support-end date is stored, because Apple has not published one and there is no EPREL record to turn into an EU-label minimum.
• Support dates: published manufacturer deadlines collected by endoflife.date (MIT licence, community-maintained with manufacturer references) or the Xiaomi Security Center. Separately, we calculate a conservative planning floor from EPREL. The source distinction below explains how both values are used.
• Official part prices: prices the manufacturer publishes or sells through its official channel (Regulation (EU) 2023/1670): Samsung's self-repair price list (EUR, excl. VAT, version 2.0 dated 19 June 2025) for 11 Galaxy models; Google's genuine Pixel parts sold by iFixit Europe, Google's named EU parts channel (EUR, incl. VAT; the part-only price when the same genuine part is also sold as a fix kit); the Fairphone shop (EUR, excl. VAT; a Fairphone (Gen. 6) part is also listed for the Fairphone 6+ only when that part's product page says it is compatible with the Gen. 6+); and Apple's Self Service Repair Store, the Greece storefront for 25 iPhone models (collected on 19 October 2026; iPhone 16e showed EUR 0.00 and is left out) , the Germany storefront and the Austria storefront for those models plus iPhone 16e, 26 models each (collected by hand on 25 October 2026). All three are EUR, incl. VAT, battery and display kits with screws. Apple takes part of the price off if you send the old part back; we show that lower figure as a second line, but the official price we show and use is the full price. We copy the price, part number and who it is sold to, and link the source. We do not use repair-shop prices.
• Retailer prices: official product feeds from retailers' affiliate programmes, once each programme approves us. We do not scrape price comparison sites and we do not collect prices against any site's terms.
• IMEI model finder: the Osmocom TAC database (CC BY-SA 3.0, © Osmocom contributors). It runs in your browser.

Manufacturer dates and calculated EU floors

Manufacturer date: a security-update deadline published in the cited source. Read the manufacturer's model, region and conditions; it does not automatically describe support for every app or every new operating-system feature.

EU-based floor: the first EU market date stored in EPREL plus its declared update years. This is a derived planning reference, not an announced support end.

The EU period runs from the end of placement on the market of the last unit of the model. We do not have that final date, so actual support may extend beyond our calculated floor. Source: European Commission guidance on smartphones and tablets.

When both values exist, the reference calculations use the later one and retain its source type. A later EU floor remains a calculated planning reference. Only a future manufacturer horizon is eligible for the fixed support bands and this preview’s automatic keep, sell or upgrade rules. A floor requires your own planned ownership period; a reached reference requires a check of the manufacturer’s current policy.

The support tracker and calendar therefore treat EU floors as review milestones. With neither a manufacturer date nor sufficient EPREL inputs, the date remains unknown.

The ownership timeline labels calculated EU floors separately from manufacturer dates. Reaching either reference does not by itself prove that updates have stopped. Neither reference establishes when resale value will drop. Without an observed price history that supports such a conclusion, no resale-drop date is placed on the timeline or in the keep/sell preview.

Country and VAT on part prices

Each official part price stays in the market where it was published. We never add VAT, and we never copy one country’s shop price into another country. The country control on the page only switches among markets for which we have published a price. Your choice is saved in this browser only (fx-price-country).

• EU (English default): Samsung’s EUR list, the Fairphone shop and iFixit Europe, with VAT exactly as that source states it. If a part is published in exactly one other market, the English pages still show it and name that market. Apple battery and display prices are published for Greece, Germany and Austria, so the English default does not choose among those shops. On those phones the English page shows the country control, and the price, VAT line and source link follow the country you pick. iPhone 16e is published for Germany and Austria (the Greece store showed EUR 0.00), so the English page shows the country control for that phone too.
• Greece (Greek default): Apple’s Self Service Repair Store for Greece, collected by hand on 19 October 2026 (EUR, incl. VAT). Where Apple has no Greece price, we show the EU price and mark it EU.
• Germany (German default): Google’s genuine Pixel parts on the iFixit de-de shop, read on 24 October 2026 (a price is used only when that page states that VAT is included, “Inkl. MwSt.”, and the part is sold as genuine), and Apple’s Self Service Repair Store for Germany, collected by hand on 25 October 2026 (EUR, incl. VAT, battery and display kits for 26 iPhone models, including iPhone 16e). Where there is no German price, we show the EU price and mark it EU. Germany does not show Apple’s Greece or Austria price.
• Austria: Apple’s Self Service Repair Store for Austria, collected by hand on 25 October 2026 (EUR, incl. VAT, battery and display kits for 26 iPhone models, including iPhone 16e). Where there is no Austrian price, we show the EU price and mark it EU. Austria does not show Apple’s Germany or Greece price.

Apple. Repair steps link to Apple’s own Self Service Repair manuals on support.apple.com, in the language of the page. We do not use an iFixit guide or an iFixit parts shop for an iPhone. Apple part prices come only from the matching store on selfservicerepair.eu. The Germany store and the Austria store were collected by hand on 25 October 2026 (26 iPhone models each, battery and display, including iPhone 16e). Austria is in the country list. We do not invent a price, and we do not copy a Greece price into Germany or a Germany price into Austria.

Cost per year

• Price: an eligible recent observation for the selected market and condition, or the amount you enter. Check the variant and final price with the retailer; an observation is not a confirmed purchase price.
• Years of use: initially the time to the support reference date used. You can enter a shorter or longer period. Exceeding the reference is flagged; for an EU floor, that does not establish the end of support. Positive periods under one year use one year as the divisor.
• Battery replacements: the EU label states how many full charge cycles the battery lasts before it drops to 80% of its capacity. We assume 365 full cycles a year (one full charge a day); you can change that. Each time the cycles used pass the rated number, one battery replacement at the manufacturer's official battery price is added. Where the manufacturer offers a credit for returning the old part (Apple), we use the full price before that credit, so the figure errs on the high side. If there is no official battery price, we say the cost is missing rather than guess it.
• Resale value: without a supported input, we deduct no resale value and label the result "before resale". It is not a forecast of your future sale price or a complete account of every ownership cost.
• Not included: labour and shipping on parts, VAT where the source price excludes it, accidental damage, insurance, accessories and mobile plans.

Keep, sell or upgrade (preview)

Status: this remains an unreleased preview. The rules below describe its model, not a validated forecast of faults, resale value or support ending. Its release gate remains closed.

Each phone has a keep / sell / upgrade preview at a direct link. This preview remains outside the menu, sitemap and search indexing until it is signed off. It shows a conditional recommendation or asks you to review the support evidence and your own plans.

• Years left in this preview means years to an eligible future manufacturer horizon. A calculated EU floor, a reached reference or a missing date leaves this denominator unavailable, so no cost-per-year result or automatic keep, sell or upgrade call is derived from it. The reference date and its basis remain visible. A future floor may still bound the battery-cycle planning estimate below.
• Repair risk is an estimate. The stated probability is 1 if you say that repair is due. Otherwise battery health sets the battery probability: 0.8 under 80%, 0.4 from 80% to 89%, and 0.1 at 90% or more. A figure you type wins. If you leave it blank, a median is used only when that model has at least 5 moderated battery-health readings. Otherwise the EU rated cycles at one full charge a day set it: 0.5 if that year has passed, 0.25 if it falls before the support reference used as a planning window, otherwise 0. Screen probability stays 0 unless you say a screen repair is due. Screen age is left blank: there is no sourced age for a first screen repair, and we do not invent one. A missing official price is left blank. A published labour or shipping euro for that part and market is added to the part price before the probability. A missing labour or shipping euro is left out. A maker service price that already includes the part is shown beside the part and is not added again. When the maker calls that service price an estimate, the page labels it Estimate. A purchase year counts as 1 July of that year and moves only this cycle estimate. These stated probabilities are modelling assumptions, not measured failure rates.
• Resale euros are used only from observed trade-in, buyback, or resale quotes. One quote is shown as that figure. Two or more quotes in euros are shown as a low–high band. Cost per year subtracts the low, which is one of the observed quotes, not an average and not a refurbished shop price. No resale-drop date is forecast. Neither a manufacturer horizon nor a calculated EU floor establishes a market-value change; observed quotes alone do not establish the timing of a drop. With no tracked purchase price, no euro repair risk or no eligible future manufacturer horizon, cost per year is not estimated. This does not change the cost-per-year tool above, which counts full battery replacements instead of a probability.
• Refurbished replacement is the cost to buy a refurbished unit: the Greece key in the daily export when that key has an https price, otherwise the first refurbished key, otherwise a hand-checked public price. It can be compared with the replacement budget you type. It is not cash in hand. If this phone has no such price, a catalogue peer is shown only when the keep/sell peer list already includes that phone, and the page names the peer. No price: not estimated.
• The recommendation: With an eligible manufacturer horizon under 2 years away, the preview returns review unless a due repair, battery health under 80%, or a chosen catalogue phone with at least 2 more years to an eligible manufacturer horizon triggers the existing upgrade rule. At least 2 years returns keep, unless the official repair you mark is at least half your replacement budget or exceeds the lowest observed sell quote while under 4 years remain. Derived, reached or missing references do not trigger these automatic calls. The refurbished ask is shown beside your budget and does not change the call by itself.

Battery health (preview)

Each phone has a battery-health page. It is built for a direct link and stays out of the menu, the sitemap and search indexing until it is signed off. The switch is BATTERY_LIVE, and it stays off. Turning it on does not publish the ownership timeline or the keep / sell / upgrade page.

• How to read the percentage. On an iPhone, Maximum Capacity is under Settings → Battery → Battery Health (Battery Health & Charging on some models and iOS versions). Recent models also show a cycle count under Settings → General → About. Apple’s battery guide is linked. On Android the menus differ. Samsung: the Samsung Members app → Support → Phone diagnostics → Battery status. Recent Pixels: Settings → Battery → Battery health. Other phones: Settings → Battery, or search Settings for “battery health”. We do not invent a menu.
• EU rated cycles come from the EPREL product sheet, with the https source. They are the full charges until about 80% of original capacity. If the sheet has no count, the page says Not estimated. We do not invent a cycle count.
• Expected wear is an Estimate, and only when a release date and a rated cycle count both exist. One full charge a day from the release date, the same basis as the repair marker on the ownership timeline. The window runs from that date to the day the rated cycles are used up, when a straight line from 100% reaches about 80%. Today’s place on that line is an Estimate. Past that day we do not estimate a percentage under 80%. A screen age is not estimated. An age in months that you type replaces the launch age in the interpreter only. It is how long you have had the phone, not a screen age.
• The band is an Estimate of when a replacement makes sense. Under 80% is “consider a replacement”: that is the EU rating line, and the point where many people open Apple’s battery guide and think about service. From 80% up to but not including 90% is “watch”. 90% or more is “healthy”, unless a cycle count you type, or the age at one full charge a day, has already used the rated cycles — then it is “watch” while health is still 80% or more. The 90% edge is an Estimate, the same split as keep / sell / upgrade. The inputs stay in the browser. Nothing is sent.
• Official battery price is the manufacturer part price for that country view. English pages do not pick an Apple shop when more than one country publishes a price. Labour and shipping are shown beside the part maximum only when a sourced euro exists for that part and country. The high end of a published range is the figure kept beside the maximum. A maker service price that already includes the part is shown beside it and is not added on top. When the maker calls that service price an estimate, the page labels it Estimate. A missing euro is left out.
• Crowd median. Moderated readings only, and only when that model has at least 5, each with an https source and a date. The sample file can stay header-only. Under 5, the page says crowd data is not ready. We do not invent a percentage. This page does not collect a reading. Later submissions need moderation and must not include personal data.
• User-replaceable is the EU-label flag when the sheet has one.

Deal integrity (preview)

Each phone has a deal-integrity page. It is built for a direct link and stays out of the menu, the sitemap and search indexing until it is signed off. The switch is DEAL_LIVE, and it stays off. Turning it on does not publish the ownership timeline, the keep / sell / upgrade page, or the battery-health page.

The page answers one question: is today’s tracked price below the lowest price we actually observed for that same offer in the previous 30 days? That is the prior price in Article 6a of Directive 98/6/EC, as added by Directive (EU) 2019/2161. The per-offer test is the same one as how we check if a discount is real, including on Is the discount real?. It is a record of prices we tracked. It is not a legal ruling, and it is not a coupon list.

• Offers. Rows come from the daily export of tracked shop offers (the same discount checks as the Black Friday pages), each with an https affiliate link already on file. A row without that link is dropped. Amazon.de rows are dropped while that programme is off. We do not copy prices from Amazon’s website. A daily minimum that is not tied to one shop’s offer is not used as a 30-day low. Trade-in quotes are not shop discounts.
• A failed feed. Public and Kotsovolos are phone-price feeds. A row from them is a shop price for a phone, not a repair quote, and those shops are not listed as repair destinations. When the daily download for a feed fails, the job records the failure and does not store the feed URL. This page names that shop only from that record. It does not keep yesterday’s price as if it were checked today, and it does not invent the missing euros. A feed that is enabled, with no failure record and no offer row, is not described as a failed download.
• Per offer. checkDiscount / offerStatus in the discount rules: 30 days before the check day, at least 21 observed days, a real discount at least 5% under that offer’s own 30-day low and not above its 90-day low. The same flags (inflated reference, raised before the sale) use the same thresholds. Fewer than 21 days is “not enough history”. We do not fill in the missing days or the low.
• The band is the real share above, not a score out of 100. Offers with not enough history are counted in the table and left out of the share. No offers: “no tracked offers”. Every offer under 21 days: “not enough history”. Real share 0: “not a real discount”. Real share at least one half: “mostly a real discount”. Otherwise: “mixed”. The lowest current price is shown with that offer’s 30-day low, or with “not enough history” when the low was not observed.
• A price you type stays in the browser. Nothing is sent. Against a selected offer, the checker builds a flat stub of that offer’s observed days, all at the stored 30-day low, and runs the same checkDiscount function. It does not replay each recorded day. The raised-before-sale flag and a lower 90-day low apply only if you type an older price. You can also type a flat history of your own. A stub is labelled as a stub.

eSIM and SIM (preview)

Each phone has an eSIM and SIM page. It is built for a direct link and stays out of the menu, the sitemap and search indexing until it is signed off. The switch is ESIM_LIVE, and it stays off. Turning it on does not publish the ownership timeline, the keep / sell / upgrade page, the battery-health page, or the deal-integrity page.

The page answers whether this phone has a physical nano-SIM tray, whether it supports eSIM, and how two lines are set up. It is for someone who wants to keep a home number while travelling, or to spot a used phone from the wrong region. It is not a travel-eSIM shop, and it does not link to a travel-plan programme.

• Facts come from a hand-checked file. Each row names an https page and the date we read it. Apple, Samsung and Fairphone pages come first. We do not use a spec-site scrape, and we do not fill a tray count the source does not state.
• Physical tray is 0, 1 or 2 nano-SIM positions when the maker’s page states that. Otherwise the page says unknown.
• eSIM is yes or no only when the maker’s page says so, or when the maker’s own spec names the SIM size and does not list an eSIM while the same maker writes “embedded SIM” on phones that have one. A model left off a maker’s eSIM device list is recorded as no, and the page says the model is not on that list. Otherwise unknown.
• Dual-SIM mode is the maker’s pairing, in plain words: one nano-SIM and an eSIM, two eSIMs, two nano-SIMs, or the combinations the page lists. DSDS or DSDA is named only when the maker names it. Otherwise the page says two lines can be configured and that active behaviour depends on the software and the carrier.
• Region. Where the maker’s pages disagree by country, the page says so. An iPhone 16 bought in the United States is eSIM only. Apple’s UK tech specs for model A3287 list a nano-SIM and an eSIM. The same Apple SIM article covers the other iPhones we list: iPhone 14, 15 and 16 models bought in the United States are eSIM only, and elsewhere they have a nano-SIM and an eSIM. iPhone 17 and iPhone 18 models are eSIM only in a longer country list on that article. iPhone Air and iPhone Duo are listed as eSIM only. iPhone 12, iPhone 13 and iPhone SE (3rd generation) are listed with a nano-SIM and an eSIM, without a United States eSIM-only line. Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao are not given a tray count here, because Apple says those models differ and does not give one count for every unit bought there. Samsung models on the UK eSIM device list are recorded as yes. Models absent from that list are recorded as no, with no tray count unless a spec page states one. A regional limit on that list, such as North America only, is left unknown rather than copied as a European yes. Google’s dual-SIM page is the source for Pixel models. A phone with one spec read and no comparison stays “not compared”.
• Out of scope. Carrier lock, VoLTE, and whether Cosmote, Vodafone, Nova or a travel plan will install an eSIM. Apple’s own footnote says a provider may disable eSIM. Samsung’s carrier list is not a download test.

"Is it worth it?"

The time bands on a "worth it" page apply only to a future manufacturer horizon selected by the support-reference rules. They describe the years to that published date, subject to the source’s model, region and conditions. They are one criterion for a decision, not an overall product score or a hands-on review. The calculation date does not establish when a source was last reviewed.

• Long manufacturer horizon: at least 4 years to the future manufacturer horizon.
• Medium manufacturer horizon: at least 2 and less than 4 years to that horizon.
• Short manufacturer horizon: more than 0 and less than 2 years to that horizon.
• Choose your planning period: a future calculated EU floor. Choose your intended ownership period and check current manufacturer policy; the floor alone does not produce a buying verdict.
• Check current support: the reference is reached or passed. Check the current policy; reaching the reference does not by itself prove updates stopped or justify selling or replacing the phone.
• No verdict yet: no usable dated reference, including missing or withheld support data.

The EU repairability class, battery rating and official part prices appear as additional considerations. They and the purchase price do not change the support bands. Use the actual purchase or repair quote and your intended ownership period when deciding.

Which pages we ask search engines to index

Every phone has the same set of pages, but we only ask search engines to index a page when it has real data. The others are marked noindex and left out of the sitemap.

• Phone overview: at least two supported fields (for example a release date and a support reference).
• Worth it: a support reference date plus an EU repairability class or an official part price.
• Battery and screen replacement cost: an official price for that part.
• Updates: a support reference date.
• Ownership timeline: a release date and either a support reference or a rated battery-cycle count.
• Trade-in value: never, until we have trade-in data.
• Battery health: not until the preview is signed off. After that, a phone with a release date or a rated cycle count.
• Deal integrity: not until the preview is signed off. After that, a phone with at least one tracked offer that has enough observed days to score. No offers, or only offers under the minimum days, stays noindex.
• eSIM and SIM: not until the preview is signed off. After that, a phone whose curated row has a tray count or an eSIM yes or no, and an https source with a date. A phone with no row stays noindex.
• Comparisons: both phones have at least three sourced facts.
• Rankings: at least 10 phones (for part prices, in each table shown).

Rankings

Rankings use only sourced data and never tracked retail prices. Phones with exactly the same sort values share a rank (for example 1, 1, 3) and are listed by name. A ranking with fewer than 10 phones is built with noindex and left out of the sitemap.

• Longest software support: phones with a future support reference, latest first. The calculation includes manufacturer dates and the EU floors explained above; phones lacking both are excluded. A position does not prove longer actual support than a phone whose date is unknown.
• Best EU repairability: EU-label repairability class (A best), then the repairability index on the label (higher is better), both from EPREL.
• Cheapest official battery and screen: the part price published by the manufacturer or its official parts channel, lowest first. Prices that include VAT and prices that exclude VAT are kept in separate tables; we never add VAT or mix the two. Apple's lower price after returning the old part is shown but not used to sort.

Keeping your phone: cost per year with a repair

When a published manufacturer date is the displayed basis, the calculator uses the remaining time to that date. For a calculated EU floor or missing date, you enter your planned remaining years of use; that personal assumption does not confirm software support. If the manufacturer date is reached or passed, the calculator shows no annual figure and asks you to verify the current policy. For a different personal planning period, choose “Not listed / enter manually”.

The period must be greater than zero. Positive periods under one year use one year as the divisor. The estimate spreads only the repair quote you enter, excluding later faults, battery wear and resale value. It is not an instruction to commission the repair.

Price tracking

• The daily data job processes connected retailer feeds. The date on each observation matters; a scheduled run does not guarantee a successful or complete refresh.
• The comparison uses eligible EUR observations from the last seven days for the selected country. Future-dated, invalid or explicitly unavailable observations are excluded. A newer invalid or withdrawn row must not revive an older cheaper quote.
• Merchant groups are ordered by their lowest displayed price, then offers within a group by price. Condition and variant remain identifiable. Equal prices do not establish that different listings are the same product.
• Storage and colour come from retained feed fields or titles. A supported merchant URL can serve as an explicitly labelled fallback. Unknown or conflicting variants remain unknown. An observation does not confirm today's stock, shipping or checkout price.
• Amazon offers are currently disabled. See the affiliate disclosure for current programmes and retailer-coverage limits.

How we check if a discount is real

Under EU law (Article 6a of Directive 98/6/EC, added by Directive (EU) 2019/2161), when a shop announces a price reduction, the "before" price must be the lowest price it charged during a period of at least 30 days before the reduction. Each EU country sets the exact rule in its own law; some cases, such as progressive reductions, have special rules. We check each sale price against our own record of the same offer: same shop, same model, same storage, same condition.

• Enough history. We need at least 21 days of observed prices in the 30 days before the sale. Otherwise the result is "not enough history" and we make no claim.
• Real discount. The sale price is at least 5% below the offer's 30-day low, and not above its 90-day low.
• Small discount. Below the 30-day low, but by less than 5% or not below the 90-day low.
• No discount. The sale price is the same as or higher than the 30-day low, whatever the label says.
• "Before" price above 30-day low (flag). The shop's stated "before" price is more than 1% above the lowest price we saw in the previous 30 days.
• Raised before the sale (flag). The highest price in the 30 days before the sale is more than 10% above the offer's median price in the 60 days before that, and the sale price is back near that earlier level.

The rules are fixed before the sale starts and applied the same way to every shop, every night. Results are based only on the prices we observed ourselves each day; they are not a legal assessment of the offer. The same check is on each phone’s deal-integrity page (preview, not indexed yet): deal integrity.

Independence

Some affiliate links are active: Public.gr (via Linkwise); Kotsovolos (via Linkwise); Anker (via Linkwise). Those links are marked with an asterisk (*): if you buy, we may earn a commission at no cost to you. Editorial independence here means that payment does not buy changes to figures, rankings or conclusions. Available affiliate feeds do limit retailer coverage.

The operator has commercial ties to iRepair Rhodes and Ohmvia. Those disclosed referrals on repair options are not an independent ranking of repair providers. Read the commercial relationships and affiliate disclosure.

Corrections

Report an incorrect figure, unclear conclusion or missing commercial label to hello@fixindex.eu. Please include:

• the FixIndex page and the specific claim;
• a manufacturer, EPREL or retailer source link and the date you read it;
• the model, variant and country if the difference depends on them.

Evidence is our correction standard, regardless of a commercial relationship. We check confirmed errors at the source or calculation and correct the affected information; material content changes should remain traceable with a date and explanation. Unresolved evidence should stay visibly uncertain. A later retailer price change does not automatically invalidate a correctly dated earlier observation. Please do not send IMEIs, credentials or customer records.