Tim Cook to Investors: People Bought Fewer New iPhones Because They Repaired Their Old Ones (vice.com)

On Wednesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook issued a dire warning to his investors. Apple, the world's first trillion dollar company, lowered its revenue forecast for the first time since 2002, thanks primarily to China, he said. But there was at least one more issue at play.

Motherboard: The lengthy letter cites, specifically, that people are buying fewer iPhones because they are repairing their old ones. Apple has long fought efforts that would make iPhones easier to repair: It has lobbied against right to repair efforts in several states, doesn't sell iPhone replacement parts, sued an independent repair professional in Norway, worked with Amazon to get iPhone and MacBook refurbishers kicked off Amazon Marketplace, and has deals with electronics recyclers that require them to shred iPhones and MacBooks (as opposed to allowing them to be refurbished.) The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, has seized iPhone replacement parts from prominent right to repair activists in the United States.

[...] Apple has never clearly articulated why it doesn't want people to fix their own iPhones or to have independent experts repair them. It has previously said that iPhones are "too complex" for users to repair them, even though replacing a battery is pretty easy and is done by average users all the time. But the fact that repair hurts Apple's bottom line came out in Cook's official communication with shareholders, who he is legally obligated to tell the truth to.

Comments

If this hurts Apple's bottom line, it should.

[Narcocide]

If they lose revenue when people can't repair their hardware, then the replacement costs are hurting the global economy and this needs to stop. Period.

Re: If this hurts Apple's bottom line, it should.

[Joce640k]

Hush. The spokesman for the entire Internet is speaking.

Re: If this hurts Apple's bottom line, it should.

[Hylandr]

You can Fuck right the Hell Off Apple.

Assuming I have the ear of a very angry Apple exec:

The market has put it's foot in your ass and will continue to punish you.

Apple products are banned in my household as your software is invasive, hardware grossly over-priced and under-performs and we can fix everything we own.

People don't buy things because they are told they have to unless the Govt made them. They buy things they like. They don't like their Audio jack being taken away, we don't like property we can't fix, and we don't *have* to buy overpriced mediocre performing apple garbage.

Want to sell products, find what the customer wants and fill that need, not by telling them they need to spend 200 times more for reduced utility.

Try making money by repairing iPhones

[jfdavis668]

Why doesn't Apple offer to repair old iPhones? They could make extra money.