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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 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.
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
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.