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It's good to see Apple behaving and recognising the momentum the Rights to Repair movement has got globally in the last few years (especially in the large marke

It's good to see Apple behaving and recognising the momentum the Rights to Repair movement has got globally in the last few years (especially in the large market of EU, and now picking up in Asia). But I think iFixit has been too generous in giving the iPhone 14 a repairability score of 7 out of 10 when Apple still places additional unwanted hurdles and control through software: > We are hearing reports that Apple is continuing their hostile path of pairing parts to the phone, requiring activation of the back glass after installation. You really shouldn’t need Apple’s permission to install a sheet of glass on a phone that you already own. Using software to prevent the use of aftermarket parts gets a big thumbs down from us. These locks are frustrating and ultimately futile—Apple simply can’t control all the repairs that happen with their products, no matter how hard they try.

grumpycamel 4y ago
If Apple allows super easy salvage of another device for parts, I wonder if phones will start to be stolen again. Easy salvage might create an unacceptably wide-spread life-safety risk to ALL smartphone owners. Tradeoffs, unintended consequences.
- reisse 4y ago
  Life-safety? Seriously? It's gun control and law enforcement problem, not the one of easy salvaging. Y'know, it's hard to imagine that someone in Europe or most of the Asia would be robbing at gunpoint for the smartphone. Risk/reward just does not match - it'll be most likely few years or even probation for simple robbery with good ol' bats, and tens of years for robbing at gunpoint, a good part of it from illegal firearms possession. Not to mention that actual murder for smartphone will move it much closer to life sentence.
  - spideymans 4y ago
    >Life-safety? Seriously? It's gun control and law enforcement problem, not the one of easy salvaging. Y'know, it's hard to imagine that someone in Europe or most of the Asia would be robbing at gunpoint for the smartphone. Yeah, instead you’d be robbed at knifepoint. And if not at knifepoint, then by using any serious of improvised weapons.
    - 0x38B 4y ago
      A knife scares me far more than a gun up close, as a sharp knife causes massive damage to tissue and internal organs, while many are shot by pistols and live.
  - samatman 4y ago
    Europe and Asia both have a fair amount of motorcycle robbery / purse snatching. Victims can get dragged into traffic and killed, or stabbed if they resist. Robbery is robbery, a handgun is just one way to threaten someone in the process.
- webmobdev 4y ago
  > Easy salvage might create an unacceptably wide-spread life-safety risk to ALL smartphone owners. Yeah, it'll be the end of the world if an iPhone is disassembled and its parts sold worldwide! /s If preventing theft was the real goal behind requiring software activation for repairs, then Apple can simply display a warning to the user that a replaced part is stolen and to inform the police. The real reason for this anti-repair feature is to ensure that iDevice users are forced to buy Apple care, are forced to buy parts from Apple at artificially inflated prices and to prevent them from sourcing cheaper parts from elsewhere. When I buy an iPhone, I own it. If I want to replace a part in it with a non-genuine non-apple spare part it is my right to do so, and Apple doesn't have any right to prevent me from doing so.
- jhickok 4y ago
  Agreed, but in this example they specifically cite the glass. Does seem like you should be able to replace glass without phoning in to Apple in some manner.
cududa 4y ago
Well I mean it also cuts down on their repair costs quite substantially. Repairing anything but the front screen has been a nightmare since the iPhone 8
- webmobdev 4y ago
  Not if I am forced to buy the parts from Apple or they stop providing it. The real goal behind this anti-repair feature is to prevent users from sourcing parts from elsewhere and using it to repair their device. If Apple decides to support a device for only 5 years, you will no longer be able to repair your device once Apple stops distributing the parts. This anti-repair feature prevents you from using other compatible (non apple) parts on your phone (which, by the way are often much cheaper than Apple's artificially inflated prices to force you to buy Apple care).
  - spideymans 4y ago
    >The real goal Rather bold of you to assume that you understand the motivations behind any of the decisions within the Apple organization.

grumpycamel 4y ago

If Apple allows super easy salvage of another device for parts, I wonder if phones will start to be stolen again. Easy salvage might create an unacceptably wide-spread life-safety risk to ALL smartphone owners. Tradeoffs, unintended consequences.

reisse 4y ago
Life-safety? Seriously? It's gun control and law enforcement problem, not the one of easy salvaging. Y'know, it's hard to imagine that someone in Europe or most of the Asia would be robbing at gunpoint for the smartphone. Risk/reward just does not match - it'll be most likely few years or even probation for simple robbery with good ol' bats, and tens of years for robbing at gunpoint, a good part of it from illegal firearms possession. Not to mention that actual murder for smartphone will move it much closer to life sentence.
- spideymans 4y ago
  >Life-safety? Seriously? It's gun control and law enforcement problem, not the one of easy salvaging. Y'know, it's hard to imagine that someone in Europe or most of the Asia would be robbing at gunpoint for the smartphone. Yeah, instead you’d be robbed at knifepoint. And if not at knifepoint, then by using any serious of improvised weapons.
  - 0x38B 4y ago
    A knife scares me far more than a gun up close, as a sharp knife causes massive damage to tissue and internal organs, while many are shot by pistols and live.
- samatman 4y ago
  Europe and Asia both have a fair amount of motorcycle robbery / purse snatching. Victims can get dragged into traffic and killed, or stabbed if they resist. Robbery is robbery, a handgun is just one way to threaten someone in the process.
webmobdev 4y ago
> Easy salvage might create an unacceptably wide-spread life-safety risk to ALL smartphone owners. Yeah, it'll be the end of the world if an iPhone is disassembled and its parts sold worldwide! /s If preventing theft was the real goal behind requiring software activation for repairs, then Apple can simply display a warning to the user that a replaced part is stolen and to inform the police. The real reason for this anti-repair feature is to ensure that iDevice users are forced to buy Apple care, are forced to buy parts from Apple at artificially inflated prices and to prevent them from sourcing cheaper parts from elsewhere. When I buy an iPhone, I own it. If I want to replace a part in it with a non-genuine non-apple spare part it is my right to do so, and Apple doesn't have any right to prevent me from doing so.
jhickok 4y ago
Agreed, but in this example they specifically cite the glass. Does seem like you should be able to replace glass without phoning in to Apple in some manner.

cududa 4y ago

Well I mean it also cuts down on their repair costs quite substantially. Repairing anything but the front screen has been a nightmare since the iPhone 8

webmobdev 4y ago
Not if I am forced to buy the parts from Apple or they stop providing it. The real goal behind this anti-repair feature is to prevent users from sourcing parts from elsewhere and using it to repair their device. If Apple decides to support a device for only 5 years, you will no longer be able to repair your device once Apple stops distributing the parts. This anti-repair feature prevents you from using other compatible (non apple) parts on your phone (which, by the way are often much cheaper than Apple's artificially inflated prices to force you to buy Apple care).
- spideymans 4y ago
  >The real goal Rather bold of you to assume that you understand the motivations behind any of the decisions within the Apple organization.