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> The cost of the equipment to do component levels repairs on an iPhone is well over 100% of the cost of a new iPhone. Nah. If you know what's broken (which is

by q3k 5y ago

> The cost of the equipment to do component levels repairs on an iPhone is well over 100% of the cost of a new iPhone. Nah. If you know what's broken (which is often a cheap multimeter test away given you have the right schematics/boardview files) you can totally get by with a cheap hotair (858D-style clone for $60), a decent soldering iron (even a dinky TS100, $70), and some decent miscellaneous tools and supplies (tweezers, flux, solder). This is equipment anyone that does any sort of electronics should already have. And likely equipment you'll find at a local hackerspace. For 01005-sized SMD passives you'll most likely also need a cheap binocular microscope (an amscope on a gooseneck for $150 will do), but you can totally do 0201-level stuff without one if you have good eyesight. It gets a bit more expensive if you're doing BGA swaps from donor boards because you need to reball them, but it's still easily all within a $1k budget for all the tools required. But hey, if Apple just allowed you to buy their BGA components new instead of people having to use donor boards, this wouldn't be needed. Component level repair is not voodoo magic, you just need practice and a steady hand. Equipment is cheaper than ever. Pretending it's out of the hands of an average curious hacker is playing into Apple's bullshit about how magical and integrated their devices are and that therefore they're the only ones that can possibly work on them.

kube-system 5y ago
I'll concede that it's possible with cheaper equipment. But the people who actually do this work tend to have $1000+ in equipment at their disposal. And there are very few of them. And none of them would be accurately described as "consumers", or even "DIY-inclined consumers". These people have skillsets so unique that their skills are beyond the capabilities of most professionals in the electronics repair field.
- q3k 5y ago
  > And none of them would be accurately described as "consumers", or even "DIY-inclined consumers". I think there's much more people that are somewhat inclined to learn these skills and that have access to such equipment than you think. And plenty who don't work in any industry related to electronics that just happen to tinker with electronics as a hobby and effectively have gotten very proficient with a soldering iron. Don't underestimate curious hackers from places where fixing your own equipment makes economic sense. For me, disassembling my iPhone and replacing its battery was much more difficult than any sort of component-level repair. So if we're letting 'consumers' do that, why not let them also try component level repair?
  - kube-system 5y ago
    This isn't an Apple-sponsored educational exercise. It's a consumer-facing program where they are sharing some of the parts, instructions, and components they use for repairs. While I think Apple should share repair information, I don't think it is a reasonable expectation for them to provide information on repairs that they don't even do. We don't expect this level of detail from any other industry, even when they are required by law to provide repair information. Toyota doesn't give information on how to weld damaged engine parts, even if it's a technically feasible repair. They don't do this repair themselves, they replace it, so how would they be expected to provide this level of detail?
- 29083011397778 5y ago
  > people who actually do this work tend to have $1000+ in equipment > none of them would be accurately described as "consumers", or even "DIY-inclined consumers". I'm assuming that nearly every single one of the people in your first quote, got there by starting off as someone described in your second quote.
  - kube-system 5y ago
    I'd agree. That doesn't mean that the superset is comparable to the subset.
userbinator 5y ago
Also, it's done for laptops and phones by a huge number of shops in China, which clearly has no shortage of skilled labour. Many years ago I went there with a friend to get his laptop fixed and the customer experience was incredible. The young lady doing it (in a shop of about a dozen others) actually left the stall and went with us to the other shops in the building to buy the necessary parts, and we got to see them being installed and tested. It was surprisingly cheap too, I only learned afterwards that haggling is the norm but we paid the asking price (which was already quite low from a foreigner's perspective!)

by q3k 5y ago

kube-system 5y ago

I'll concede that it's possible with cheaper equipment. But the people who actually do this work tend to have $1000+ in equipment at their disposal. And there are very few of them. And none of them would be accurately described as "consumers", or even "DIY-inclined consumers". These people have skillsets so unique that their skills are beyond the capabilities of most professionals in the electronics repair field.

q3k 5y ago
> And none of them would be accurately described as "consumers", or even "DIY-inclined consumers". I think there's much more people that are somewhat inclined to learn these skills and that have access to such equipment than you think. And plenty who don't work in any industry related to electronics that just happen to tinker with electronics as a hobby and effectively have gotten very proficient with a soldering iron. Don't underestimate curious hackers from places where fixing your own equipment makes economic sense. For me, disassembling my iPhone and replacing its battery was much more difficult than any sort of component-level repair. So if we're letting 'consumers' do that, why not let them also try component level repair?
- kube-system 5y ago
  This isn't an Apple-sponsored educational exercise. It's a consumer-facing program where they are sharing some of the parts, instructions, and components they use for repairs. While I think Apple should share repair information, I don't think it is a reasonable expectation for them to provide information on repairs that they don't even do. We don't expect this level of detail from any other industry, even when they are required by law to provide repair information. Toyota doesn't give information on how to weld damaged engine parts, even if it's a technically feasible repair. They don't do this repair themselves, they replace it, so how would they be expected to provide this level of detail?
29083011397778 5y ago
> people who actually do this work tend to have $1000+ in equipment > none of them would be accurately described as "consumers", or even "DIY-inclined consumers". I'm assuming that nearly every single one of the people in your first quote, got there by starting off as someone described in your second quote.
- kube-system 5y ago
  I'd agree. That doesn't mean that the superset is comparable to the subset.

userbinator 5y ago

Also, it's done for laptops and phones by a huge number of shops in China, which clearly has no shortage of skilled labour. Many years ago I went there with a friend to get his laptop fixed and the customer experience was incredible. The young lady doing it (in a shop of about a dozen others) actually left the stall and went with us to the other shops in the building to buy the necessary parts, and we got to see them being installed and tested. It was surprisingly cheap too, I only learned afterwards that haggling is the norm but we paid the asking price (which was already quite low from a foreigner's perspective!)