If your Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus is running out of juice earlier in
the day than you expect it to then the culprit might be the battery.
Today we’re going to run through the process of replacing the battery in your Galaxy S21 Plus.
For this repair you’ll need:An iOpener, A Suction Handle, iFixit Opening Picks, A Spudger, Tweezers,
A Phillips #00 Screwdriver, And some Isopropyl Alcohol.
You’ll also need adhesive strips to secure your new battery to prevent
it from moving around inside the phone as well as adhesive for your back panel.
One more tool we highly recommend is our Magnetic Mat.
It helps you stay organized and you can write down notes during your repair.
Before beginning any repair make sure your battery is discharged to 25%
or lower. A charged lithium-ion battery can catch fire or explode if you damage it.
Before we dive in, it's worth noting that we’ll be working on the S21 Plus model. The S21,
S21 Plus and S21 Ultra are all very similar in build but the internals differ just enough that
we’d recommend that you follow the individual guides for each device over on iFixit.com.
With the phone switched off, we’re going to apply the clear side of a
hot iOpener to loosen the glue on the rear bottom edge of the phone.
If you have a cracked back panel like ours, and your suction cup isn’t sticking you
can use clear packing tape to cover the cracked areas to help your suction cup.
Grab your suction cup and apply it to the bottom edge and begin to pull until you see a small gap.
Once you see a small gap insert the tip of
an opening pick so that the adhesive doesn’t re-adhere.
Slide the pick to the left corner making sure you cut the adhesive and leave the pick
in the corner. Then insert another pick and slide it towards the right corner.
Be sure to leave the pick so the adhesive doesn’t set.
Repeat this same process on the right hand side of the phone.
We’re going to cut through the top edge of the
phone next. You’ll find the area near the cameras is glued down pretty well.
Finally, insert your pick on the left hand side of the phone and cut away at the remaining glue.
Be wary of ribbon cables and the camera lenses. You don't want to
accidentally catch a cable or smudge the lens with a glue covered pick.
Now we can remove the back cover safely, and we’re in!
Insert the tip of an opening pick underneath the NFC antenna and charging
coil assembly just above the loudspeaker, and move towards the bottom of the phone,
slicing the adhesive to separate the assembly from the battery and loudspeaker.
Use a spudger to disconnect the charging coil connector and then the NFC antenna connector.
Grab your driver and remove the 5 Philips screws from the motherboard bracket.
With the screws removed, go ahead and use a
pair of ESD safe tweezers to remove the NFC and charging coil assembly.
Use your spudger again and disconnect the 5g antenna cable and then the battery cable.
Let's move on to removing the 6 Philips screws securing the loudspeaker to the phone.
With those screws removed, use an opening pick to lift the component out.
Disconnect the display connector cable as well as the primary and secondary interconnect
cables from the motherboard and daughterboard so we can remove them from the phone.
Before we remove the battery we want to disconnect the power button flex cable.
There are no pull tabs under this battery sadly, so we’re going to place a few drops of isopropyl
alcohol on each side of the battery and then apply a suction handle to the center of the battery.
With the suction cup fully engaged you’re going to want to pull up on
the suction handle with a strong steady force.
If you’re still struggling, add a few more drops of isopropyl alcohol and repeat the process.
The battery should eventually loosen and separate from the phone body.
Before you insert your new battery make sure that you clean the well of any old adhesive residue.
You can use a microfiber cloth and some alcohol to leave it clean and dry.
You’ll need to apply the adhesive strip to the battery well if your
new battery didn’t already come with adhesive attached.
We have a whole video that guides you on how to apply adhesive to your Samsung's battery.
Remove the protective film in preparation for placing the battery.
Lay the battery gently into your phone and position it so you’re
able to connect the battery to the motherboard.
Apply gentle force across the face of the battery to make sure the adhesive bonds.
Now disconnect the battery and continue with your reassembly.
Go ahead and reconnect the two interconnect cables,
the display cable,
and the power button cable.
Now would be a good time to connect the battery cable and power on the phone to see if it works.
If it does-power off your phone and disconnect your battery.
Reinsert the loudspeaker and secure it in place with the 6 Philips screws.
Reconnect the 5G antenna cable and the battery cable to the motherboard.
Realign the wireless assembly coil and its attached bracket,
and reconnect the NFC antenna cable, and the wireless charging coil cable.
Screw back in the 5 Philips screws securing the bracket to the device.
Ensure that the edges of the device are clean and free of any residual glue.
Use isopropyl alcohol and a cloth to remove any residue.
Make sure you apply adhesive to the rear cover if your replacement part didn’t come with adhesive
preinstalled. We have a video that shows you how to reapply adhesive to your Samsung's back cover.
Peel away the plastic over the adhesive. Align the rear cover with your phone
and place it gently in position. Run your fingers around the edge of the
phone to ensure the adhesive makes contact with the frame.
Lastly, add a couple of books or a box to apply pressure and make sure the adhesive bonds.