Apple is screwing you by making third-party repairs hard and expensive
Impact on users
With the iPhone 12 — the latest iPhone offering — Apple hasmade it even harderfor third-party repairers to fix the device, thereby increasing users’ reliance on its own services.
Apple has hiked itsrepair chargesfor iPhone 12 by more than 40%, compared with the iPhone 11. It ischargingmore than A$359 to fix an iPhone 12 screen outside of warranty and A$109 to replace the battery.
Historically, third-party repairers have been a cheaper option. But using a third-party repairer for an iPhone 12 could render some phone features, such as the camera,almost inoperable.
According to reports, fixing the iPhone 12’s camera requiresApple’s proprietarysystem configuration app, available only to the company’s own authorized technicians.
It’s not just Apple, either.Samsung’sflagship phones are also quite tricky for third-party repairers to fix.
Impact on environment
When certain parts for repairs aren’t available, manufacturers will produce new phones instead, consumingmore energy and resources. In fact, manufacturing one smartphoneconsumesas much energy as using it for ten years.
As smartphones become harder to repair, electronic waste will grow. Apple and Samsung both cited environmental benefits when they announced they would no longer shipchargerswith their phones.
Yet, they’ve turned a blind eye to the environmental damage that would arise from completely cornering the repair market.
The average Australian home has6.7 devices, including televisions, personal computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones. With diminishing opportunities for repair, the environmental burden from disposing of these devices will increase.
What is being done?
Phone giants make it tough for third-party repairers to do their job in a variety of ways. This includes constantly changing designs, adding hurdles to the repair process, and restricting access to parts, diagnostic software and repair documentation.
Meanwhile, consumers are left with broken phones and huge repair bills — and repairers are left with less business.
The fight to remove barriers to repair is gaining momentum outside Australia, too, in countries includingCanada, theUnited Kingdom, and theUnited States. Legislative reforms have been introduced in theEuropean UnionandMassachusetts.
France has introduced aRepairability Indexrequiring electrical and electronic equipment companies to inform consumers about their products’ repairability on a scale of one to ten.
This takes into account the ease of repairability, availability, and price of spare parts, and availability of technical repair documents.
The path moving forward
Until the push for right to repair legislative reform gathers pace globally, consumers will have little choice but to pay up to big companies to access their authorized repair services.
If they don’t, they may risk losing their warranty, ending up with a non-functional device, and eveninfringingupon the manufacturers’ software copyrights.
Ideally, phone companies (and others) would assist users with the repair process by providing replacement parts, repair documentation, and diagnostic tools to third-party repairers.
This would also helpAppleandSamsungreduce their carbon footprint and achieve their environmental goals.
Although the way things are going, it’s unlikely tech companies will be able to escape their self-inflicted repair obligations. In the past, Apple CEO Jeff Williams hassaid:
But with only so much workforce available even to Apple, sharing the load with smaller repairers will help.
And for consumers’ benefit, the right to repair legislation must be taken seriously, with consistent repairability scores developed across the globe.
This article byRitesh Chugh, Senior Lecturer – Information Systems and Analysis,CQUniversity Australiais republished fromThe Conversationunder a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.
Story byThe Conversation
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