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In America at least I think the repair debates as a matter of law are off the mark overall. What I think is at the actual root of the problem for most people (a
by xoa 8y ago
In America at least I think the repair debates as a matter of law are off the mark overall. What I think is at the actual root of the problem for most people (and for the market), and what I'd really like to see legally, would be adaptive mandated warranty periods that better match the common sense expectation of how long a device should reasonably last. Say 1 year per $200 up to a max of 5 years for a napkin example, though it may be that a non-linear curve with monthly resolution would work better. But the core market issue really is the same old story about externalities and information asymmetry: manufacturers know failure rates far better then consumers, are in far more of a position to make money on the tradeoffs, and the total cost isn't reflected in the sticker price. While for something super bargain basement there is an understanding that durability may be less, I think most people feel like a premium, ~$1k+ computer should be expected to last a good 4-6 years, and if not then the manufacturer should repair or replace it at no additional charge, including a reasonable amount for shipping (COTUS at least). How exactly a manufacturer chooses to hit that should be up to them, but that's what the standard result should be.
So in the case of Apple, if they still wanted to make expensive to repair 1st/certified-3rd party only devices they could, but they'd have to eat all the expenses of that. No foisting it off onto an unlucky 0.1% or 1% or 2% or 7% or whatever of customers, it should be their job to get it right. If it makes the retail price too expensive, then they'll naturally have to figure out how to lower the failure rate or decrease the repair cost. Extended warranties should never be a thing except for special extra commercial services (onsite repairs, specific SLAs, advance replacement and so forth).
- umanwizard 8y agoI've never actually owned a phone that stopped working for any reason other than negligence on my part. Maybe I'm just particularly negligent, but I always either lose them, drop them, or get them wet long before their natural life expires. Part of the reason is that the repair or replacement cost doesn't bother me enough for it to be worth putting it in a case (which is a privilege of being a well-paid software engineer; I understand not everyone can afford to have the same priorities). But at any rate, if I were more price-conscious, repairability would matter much more than a longer warranty, since with repairability I could fix problems that are my own fault just as well as ones due to normal lifespan issues. Do other people have different experience? How long would an iPhone last without abuse?
- vbezhenar 8y agoMy first smartphone was iPhone 4S which I bought at 2012. Its WiFi started to work very bad exactly after 1 year of use, so warranty was not applicable. I found repair guy who replaced WiFi module for something like 10% of this phone initial cost. I used it for around 5 years and recently switched to iPhone 8. It still works now without any issues except degraded battery and software. Well, charging cables of course were broken after one or two years, that's problem for all Apple devices I've owned so far. Not a big problem, Chinese cables are cheap and of better quality anyway.
- plopz 8y agoI have a samsung galaxy nexus from 2011 that works fine. I don't use cases or anything, although I have replaced the battery twice which is easy since the back of the phone just pops off and the battery slides out. I have switched to a moto g5+ because I wanted a newer version of android and the galaxy nexus wasn't receiving software updates anymore.
- perl4ever 8y ago"I've never actually owned a phone that stopped working for any reason other than negligence on my part" Well, I have. Specifically a Nexus. No experience with iPhones though.
- JohnFen 8y agoI don't know about iPhones, but my current phone is a Galaxy that is pushing 7 years old. It is showing no signs of giving up the ghost yet. My laptops and servers last even longer. I tend to get well over a decade out of them.
- dielll 8y agoMy Nexus 5X stopped working due to the infamous Bootloop
- joe_the_user 8y agoRight to repair is about more than just getting a reasonable functionality for one's money. It is about "actually owning" whatever device or machinery. I want to be able to do "anything" to the physical object that I own. I know that interferes with economic calculations involving selling two more or less similar objects for substantially different prices when the manufacturer determines two different submarkets exist (one small, high end market and one low-end mass market usually, gaming versus AI in the case of GPUs). I know this interferes with maximum profits which might make some manufacturers more reluctant to invest. My heart bleeds for them[/s].
- oneplane 8y agoI doesn't really interfere with most of that because most people don't have (and never will have) the capability to apply themselves to such a scenario. This is more for lock-in purposes and cost saving. Having technical documentation out there is very costly, as is having parts logistics for consumers, especially if it's not your core business. I'm sure there is a large percentage of unethical reasons, but most of the stuff you read about is just lawyer departments lawyering and have little to do with reality (but sady does make rules within the reality of hard- and software). Most of the directions a lawyer department get are the kind of "make this happen, figure out how". It's not an engineer that makes something and then call the in-house counsel asking to make it really hard for everyone else in the world to touch his design; engineers are unlikely to care about that and more likely to want to share and engage with like-minded people.
- deogeo 8y ago> I doesn't really interfere with most of that because most people don't have (and never will have) the capability to apply themselves to such a scenario. But they can hire someone who does. Car maintenance is a pretty much perfect analogy. So it does affect everyone, even the least technically inclined.
- oneplane 8y agoSame goes for John Deere tractors. Still a mess to get data, schematics or parts for.
- JohnFen 8y ago> adaptive mandated warranty periods that better match the common sense expectation of how long a device should reasonably last. Warranties are not really substitutes for being able to repair your own stuff, though, depending on your use case. I personally find warranties less than useful, because to get a warranty repair, I'm going to have to go without the device for days and go through added hassle and often expense. Then, what happens when the warranty period, even if reasonable, expires? Once again, you're on your own. I'd much rather just fix the thing myself.
- michaelmrose 8y agoIn some cases getting warranty repair can mean being without something for 6 weeks minimum. Particularly true of some tools.