In a time when prying a smartphone open (without destroying it) is about as easy as cracking a safe, Google's Pixel 2 XL is a welcome surprise.

That's the main conclusion I get from iFixit's typically thorough teardown of the phone that's just begun to ship to buyers.

SEE ALSO: Google's Pixel 2 and 2 XL are perfect if you don't want to spend $1,000 on a new phone

Opening the phone up will require some specialized equipment, but at least there's no need to heat it up. And once you remove the display, most components are fairly easy to remove.

Not all of them, though: The battery is pretty hard to extract, according to iFixit.

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All in all, the Pixel 2 XL earned 6 out of 10 for repairability from iFixit, the same score as the iPhone 8 and a bit better than the Note 8, which scored 4 on the same scale.

The teardown is interesting as it shows one novel part, not often seen in smartphones: The squeeze sensors on both sides of the phone.

Credit: iFixit

According to iFixit, it's a "flexible printed circuit board wrapped around both sides of a line of steel chunks, with strain gauges bridging the gaps between the metal bits." And strain gauges are "deformation-sensitive resistors, that slightly change their resistance when stretched or squished."

The more you know.

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Google's Pixel 2 and 2 XL are perfect if you don't want to spend $1,000 on a new phone

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