Apple have pulled too much bullshit for me to trust this right away. I’ll wait for the review of tech repairers. The chance is high that the are some outrageous provisions making this essentially worthless.
Spontaneous guess: The tools will only work with genuine parts and the genuine parts will be uneconomically expensive.
I assume they will just price their repair parts accordingly. Maybe this will drive 3rd party development of compatible parts, and then consumers will decide to pay for the Apple OEM part or the knock-off.
But can you have it replaced for cheap on a new model?
Nobody said that you can't pay Apple a big amount of money so they fix your stuff, the issue is that in newer devices it is getting harder to repair the devices using an independent service(not everyone has the money or lives near an Apple store).
Apple can just not fuck with this independent people, let them have access to the same repair documentation and parts their own people have access.
This seems weird to me because the official parts are better. If Apple was skimping out on their parts and selling them to shops at a huge premium then independent shops would have the advantage because they could repair your phone with higher quality 3rd-party parts for less.
I might just not understand the market here but why would I assume that my local repair shop would be able to offer me labor at a cheaper rate than Apple's huge repair system?
But you are allowed to do this right now. There is nothing stopping you from attempting to repair your own device. Why should Apple be required to make replacement parts available and manuals available to you at no cost, though? That doesn't seem pro-consumer or fair to Apple.
Isn’t that the entire point of the article is that Apple is allowing repairs at “reputable shops”. And how do you “choose” a reputable shop without knowing where the parts come from?
Yes, I do appreciate the updates. But we're talking about repair here, so I'd like to discuss that. Repairs could be needed at any time during the lifetime of a phone. Its not just about being able to repair 10 year old phones.
A 50 cent component needs to be replaced on the main-board of an Apple product. Lets say I have found a qualified repair shop willing to do the repair at a price that I agree with. Why does Apple actively block the supply of parts?
This is awesome! I've been doing my own repairs for friends and family since high school. Having access to genuine Apple parts and the tools used by their own technicians will be so helpful. Smart move, Apple.
There are literally hundreds of repair shops that cropped up the last few years. Problem is you never know if the shop is actually good.
Apple guarantees quality- at an absurd price.
Lesson: treat your expensive electronics well. Or be like my brother with a permanent cracked screen on his iPhone.
I was wrong, parent comment is correct. Program is priced to be more expensive and less convenient than taking it to an Apple Store or buying/upgrading to a new phone.
this is why right to repair needs to exist. apple is just paying a lip service right now.
> Buying these parts in most cases will not be cost-effective
Apple also requires a serial number when purchasing these parts and the parts are paired to the device. So even if you wanted to start a repair shop that just replaces those parts you can't stock or even install them.
I fear that this will just increase the price of the products. Apple will toss the broken iphone and hand you a new one because they don't want to pay the cost of labor to fix it. Repairing reduces e-waste, competition in repair reduces prices (with obviosu caveats). You can't really get around that.
The issue is that Apple isn’t giving anyone access to the tools to pair the parts, unless you give them all the information in advance, buy them at possibly inflated prices through their self repair program if they’re even available, and then have Apple remotely approve it afterwards (and this process only really works for individuals, 3rd party repair is more important as most people don’t have the skill)
It's gone beyond that. Apple matches parts in their phones so that only Apple can replace certain things, which I believe increases the cost of their products a little.
Unless the alternative is discarding the hardware completely.
See, it's all about pricing, not quality of the parts.
Last iPhone I sent for repairs at work came back with an invoice of 340€ for a screen replacement. At work that's something we _have_ to do, we can't send the phones anywhere we want.
But if it was a personal phone, if I'm out of warranty and I'm going to be billed 1/3 of the cost of the phone for a new screen, or 100€ for a refubrished part somewhere else, it would be an easy decission.
Now, if that aftermarket repair was out of the question, you start wondering if it's worth to spend 1100€ for the more basic version of the phone, or you just spend 200€ on a Xiaomi and if it breaks you still can buy 4 phones more if they break. Or maybe you buy an iPhone still, but then when it breaks you just throw it away and buy an Android phone. Maybe the first time it won't happen, but after you have spent 1500€ on a phone and something else breaks(battery? lightning connector maybe?) it comes to a point where you stop throwing money into the hole.
On the laptop side, I get what Apple is doing. It has their new flashy T2 chip with integrated Touch ID and they're trying to do the same thing they did with the iPhones and nobody is going to stop them (well, maybe in EU they force them to allow the sale of Apple Diagnostic software to 3rd parties or fine them)
They're trying to convert their computers into big iPhones and treating everyone like a child that has to be taken by the hand and told him what to do all the time. And that is my problem with Apple. I'm not worried of somebody putting a backdoor in my laptop (and if they wanted to backdoor my laptop a year ago they only had to type 'root' [enter] [enter], no need to open the case), I'm not that interesting to anybody or any agency, but I don't like to be treated like I have no rights on the things I buy, and I don't need permission from anybody to do whatever I want with whatever I paid with my money.
Dont get excited. Article starts with a lie right off the bat:
>Customers join more than 5,000 Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASPs) and 2,800 Independent Repair Providers who have access to these parts, tools, and manuals.
AASPs and IRPs do NOT get access to 'tools, manuals and parts'. They get access to batteries and screens at significant markup and repair manuals that say "mail device to Apple" in case of other defects. Yes, AASPs are Prohibited from component level repair. AASP/IRP can not replace a charging port, its that bad.
But I get to buy original display from Apple so its still good? Well, Apple will sell you display assembly at the cost of Fully working second hand device.
>By designing products for durability, longevity, and increased repairability
They had to set Sarcasm Generator all the way to 11 to write this.
What this is is Apple getting scared. They can smell losing their long battle against Right to Repair and are trying to make smallest steps possible giving appearance of caving in.
I'm pretty sure you don't need those exact bulky tools to do the job. The main issue is that repairers can't get original parts. What apple now does is borderline maliciously compliant, by sending you the parts but also forcing you to pay 50$ for tool rentals.
Apple now allows and backs right to repair on paper. People are gonna buy cheap non-OEM parts anyway.
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