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Apple Is Fighting A Secret War To Keep You From Repairing Your Phone (huffingtonpost.com)
It's no secret that Apple makes a ton of money by charging 'astronomical' fee for replacing and fixing display and other components of iPhone and iPad (as well as Mac line). For instance, the company charges $599 for replacing the display on the iPad Pro tablet. Which sounds insane when you realize that you can almost certainly purchase a new iPad Pro under $700. And this is what most people do. A Huffington Post article notes that this behavior has contributed significantly in "generating heaps of e-waste." Citing many advocates, the publication claims that Apple has "opposed legislation that could help curb it." From the report: The Huffington Post spoke with politicians in two states who support such legislation, and confirmed through government filings that Apple has lobbied on the issue. Four states -- Minnesota, Nebraska, Massachusetts and New York -- have considered adopting "right to repair" amendments, which would update existing laws regarding the sale of electronic equipment. Amending these laws would make it easier to fix your devices and would help reduce "e-waste," a catch-all term for any electronic detritus. The New York State Senate and Assembly could approve one of these amendments next week. This would help unofficial repair shops get the information they need to fix your iPad, ideally driving down repair costs and encouraging you to squeeze more life out of your old devices -- thus cutting down on the e-waste generated by our voracious appetites for new gadgets. Apple asserts that it helps recycle millions of pounds of electronics equipment every year. But it won't support right to repair amendments.One would ask what is preventing a user from getting their device repaired by unofficial service person? In addition to the security implication, you also run a risk of getting your device bricked by Apple. To recall, the iPhone maker was found bricking the handsets that had been repaired by third-party vendors earlier this year.
I used to think that. I was a diehard Linux user. I'd waste hours of my time building my own PCs. Then I tried a MacBook Pro at work, and I found out just how much I had been missing. It just plain worked. I didn't have to fiddle with any hardware. I didn't have to search Linux mailing lists in vain to find a driver or an obscure config setting just to get my system working. All I did was open the MacBook Pro's lid, entered my password, and I could get right to work. Not only was the UI superb, but underneath there was a solid UNIX base! It ran all of the software I used with Linux, and then a whole lot more. It's everything I wanted from Linux but that Linux never gave me: stability, robustness, a great UI, and all of this just working right away with no effort on my part. So you know what I did? I said "fuck it" to Linux, and to home-built PCs. I bought myself a Mac Mini. And you know what? It's the best purchase I've ever made! It has paid for itself many times over by saving me my own time. I don't have to fight with Linux or PC hardware any more. I don't have to figure out why systemd decided not to let my computer boot. I don't have to try to find a GNOME 3 theme that isn't total shit. I don't have to try to customize Xfce after fighting too much with GNOME 3. I don't have to figure out why PulseAudio is preventing my sound from working. I don't have to figure out why Firefox is slow. Now my computer works for me, instead of against me. Ditching Linux and PCs was the best thing I've ever done, and I wish I had done it years ago! I would have saved myself so much time and pain.
"For instance, the company charges $599 for replacing the display on the iPad Pro tablet. Which sounds insane when you realize that you can almost certainly purchase a new iPad Pro under $700."
Well, on a iPad, the display is everything. So, it is something to expect replacing the display will nearly top the price of the device itself. You pick the most expensive part to compare the brand new one price to the repair. That's not a fair comparison. Almost the rest of the iPad components worth nothing.
Achille Talon
Hop!
I don't understand -- I recently replaced the battery & display on an iPhone5 for less than $50 (it did take two people 3 hours & we lost a tiny screw). User-generated how-to-repair documentation is available free on YouTube, the display runs ~$25 (mine did have a bad pixel but it's only noticeable at boot) & the battery between $8~$20 on eBay.
Or, bring your Apple device to this guy for repair. (I am in no way affiliated with him, just stumbled across his youtube channel recently and he seems to know what he's doing.)
Actually, it's precisely what got Apple in trouble in the early 90s.
IBM and Microsoft played nicely with Taiwanese and other white box manufactures, allowing common ATX parts and even reused components to lower the cost of the PC, while Apple refused to integrate. Foxconn and Android are about to give Apple some wicked deja vu.
Gently reply
Louis Rossmann has some great repair videos. If anyone is interested in how practical repairs of water-damaged computers are done check his channel out. He also collaborates with another person whose name escapes me at this time who does iPhone/iPad devices at https://www.youtube.com/channe....
Like him or not, Linus Sebastian also collaborated with Louis on a video after a scathing response from Louis of a LinusTechTips video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
But the one thing you're *never* allowed to do, for some reason, is:
- Actually stop buying Apple products
We keep buying Apple products because the competition sucks. I make my living as a Linux system engineer. Linux is great on the server, but in all honesty it is useless on the desktop because it has limited commercial application support. The whole purpose of an operating system is to run applications (that people want to use). In my opinion Mac OS X is the only viable *nix desktop on the market. It has support for Mac, Windows, and Linux applications. It runs everything I need, it looks pretty, and it just works right out of the box. The last thing that I want to do when I come home from work is fix another computer, I just want the stuff to work so I can live my life.
Android is nice, but it has some serious problems. The biggest problem I see is fragmentation and lack of vendor support for updates. Again, I just want the device to work without me ever having to think about it. From a personal standpoint I also think the UI is ugly and kludgy. The bottom line is it just doesn't have the polish that I have come to expect from iOS devices.
Since I covet Mac OS X and want devices that I don't have to screw with I have actively chosen to live within Apple's walled garden. Quite frankly I love it here, everything just works, their devices enable me to do the things that I want to do without getting in my way.
Android (and Linux) will conquer the world eventually because it is an open platform with similar parallels to the IBM PC market. However, until they improve I'm sticking with Apple for my consumer products. I figure Apple has at least 10 years of smooth sailing before Android completely edges them out of the portable device market.
And a car analogy..... that would be like Ford bricking your car for using a non-OEM water pump or non-Ford spark plugs. Don't support this kind of stupidity.
What? That proprietary, purpose-built parts have to be replaced with like, the same proprietary, purpose-built parts?
Apple didn't "Brick" iPhones out of a want to prevent aftermarket repair, you ninny! It was an Anti-Theft-Circumvention feature. Seriously. So someone couldn't steal/sieze your phone and then UNLOCK it by simply replacing the Fingerprint Sensor (which retains the Fingerprint data INSIDE OF ITSELF) with another one "Trained" to the THIEF'S Fingerprint.
Actually, pretty cool that they thought it through that far, and yet everyone thinks all they are trying to do is thwart third-party repair.
But, as long as you don't have a damaged Home Button, as shown at Step 19 and forward in this iFixit Repair Tutorial, you can fairly easily move it from anold display to a new one, keeping the "pairing" of the SoC and the Fingerprint Sensor intact.
Since Display and Battery replacements are hands-down the most "popular" of mobile-device repairs (pretty much everything else is WAY beyond most user's repair skills in ANY mobile device), I'd say that Apple products are in-line with other manufacturers, as far as "repairability" goes.