On iFixit and the Right To Repair (vice.com)

Jason Koebler writes: Motherboard sent a reporter to the Electronics Reuse Convention in New Orleans to investigate the important but threatened world of smartphone and electronics repair. As manufacturers start using proprietary screws, offer phone lease programs and use copyright law to threaten repair professionals, the right-to-repair is under more threat than ever. "That Apple and other electronics manufacturers don't sell repair parts to consumers or write service manuals for them isn't just annoying, it's an environmental disaster, [iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens] says. Recent shifts to proprietary screws, the ever-present threat of legal action under a trainwreck of a copyright law, and an antagonistic relationship with third-party repair shops shows that the anti-repair culture at major manufacturers isn't based on negligence or naiveté, it's malicious."

Comments

Fail.

[Anonymous Coward]

If my Samsung falls out of my pocket and breaks and it cannot be fixed, the one thing I'm not going to do is buy another Samsung. Market forces will solve this problem if we let them.

Very good channel on the topic

[fafaforza]

https://www.youtube.com/user/rossmanngroup

There's really no reason for Apple not to give more information on their hardware, other than forcing you to forgo a $50 repair in lieu of a $700 motherboard from Apple. So many of this guy's fixes are very simple. Just fixing some contacts with a few pennies' worth of solder.

But because Apple doesn't want anyone to track down these little issues, the whole thing gets shipped to some country with no environmental and labor laws, where noxious gases are released into the environment. This is how Apple became so wealthy, I guess. Good for them.

California's Lemon Law to the rescue

[macraig]

Sounds like Apple and other arrogant manufacturers are playing the odds of running afoul of California's so-called Lemon Law. It's about much more than just automobiles. It's very much about "right to repair".

How to beat any weird screw

[Neo-Rio-101]

Weird screws are nasty, but not impossible to circumvent with this one weird scientific trick that you will never believe actually works...!

OK ok.... here's what it is:

All you need to do it get a bic biro pen, pull out head and shaft, and then melt the plastic case tip in a flame.
Then place the molten plastic bit over the "impossible to open" screw. Hold it there until the plastic becomes solid again.
Et voila.... you now have a screwdriver, moulded from the weird screw you need to open. Have fun.