How about making a mouse and external track pad that can charge from the computer instead of having to replace the batteries every month. And won’t even get started on easy upgrades and repairs so people don’t need that new device every other year. Apple are so hollow.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Opens Material Recovery Lab in Austin to Improve Recycling Efforts
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
With iphones it might be true. Not with the rest of the product line up, where All components are soldered and if one fails you need to replace the entire Logic board. How is that environmentally friendly, is beyond me.
If by easily serviceable you mean John or Jane Doe at home should be able to easily do it, it is not ever going to happen as its not feasible, nor would 99.99999% of consumers want to deal with the higher costs and the design and other trade offs in order to satisfy the .000001% of people who want to be able to take apart and repair a complex piece of technology. The fact is that most all Apple products last an impressive time frame.
We do not want to repair our own computers. By Easily repair means that you do not need to change the entire Logic board if the SSD or RAM goes bad. By easily repair means that Apple should design the computers so they are easier to fix. Not that if a small component is broken you need to replace almost the entire computer.
Currently Apple is designing disposable appliances rather than computers.
And you can see how little Apple cares about customers. Rather than fixed a Failed keyboard design in the 2016 MAcbook line up, they decided to do a cheap fix, that still is having lot of problems and does not work reliably.
Repeated engineering failures
Apple.
Yesterday's technology
At tomorrow's prices
Im curious what kind of machine learning is taking place. Sounds like buzzwords
Possibilities off the top of my head:
- Auto recognition of the device type/model via image recognition to increase throughput
- Analysis of the device deconstruction process to come up with faster or more efficient ways to remove the recyclable parts
- Auto determination of whether or not a device should be recycled or reused based on image recognition of physical damage
- Auto determination of things that might be wrong with a device, either physically or via diagnostics
The reason why many people buy new phones isn't because the battery dead or they can't upgrade the screen (even though both are replaceable, it's just not consumer replaceable). It's because the consumer wants a new phone with new features.
So even if Apple went out of the way to do a total redesign and make things easier to replace, many people just don't do it.
And smartphones isn't the only industry.. look at PCs, many average consumers just add up the price of getting new ram, upgrade the HD, look at their old crummy monitor;
then they contemplate the amount of work they need to do acquire the items and do the work,,, then they say screw it! and just buy a new PC. I'm sure you can apply this to everything from fashion (clothes) to consumer electronics.
(and Yes, Apple can always improve... I would like them to make their over-expensive RAM consumer replaceable!!).
So even if Apple went out of the way to do a total redesign and make things easier to replace, many people just don't do it.
And smartphones isn't the only industry.. look at PCs, many average consumers just add up the price of getting new ram, upgrade the HD, look at their old crummy monitor;
then they contemplate the amount of work they need to do acquire the items and do the work,,, then they say screw it! and just buy a new PC. I'm sure you can apply this to everything from fashion (clothes) to consumer electronics.
(and Yes, Apple can always improve... I would like them to make their over-expensive RAM consumer replaceable!!).
Last edited:
The true ulterior motive is to screw over independent repair industry by destroying their source of donor devices/boards/components.
I remember a time when the majority of cell phones had removable batteries .
It was quite easy to replace them .
They also were a lot smaller, lighter and cheaper than iPhones - and they lasted a lot longer than any iPhone , those things are disposable and designed that way .
If the battery doesn't quit first, iOS will throttle it or kick you out of the update cycle .
Hey Apple! Walk the talk! Make all your product packaging fully and easily recyclable. All the overdesigned packaging with laminated materials and heavy duty adhesives is pure hypocrisy. Use simple paperboard and biodegradable "plastics" that don't have to end up being landfilled by the billions!
How do you explain the size of the phone repair industry if 'many people just don't do it'.
"About $4 billion in revenues is generated by the cell phone repair industry in the United States each year. Since 2012, the industry has been growing at an annual average rate of 5.5%. Over 8,000 businesses are currently active in the industry, providing employment opportunities for about 23,000 people."
https://brandongaille.com/20-cell-phone-repair-industry-statistics-and-trends/
Many states have enacted e-waste laws. Most third party repairers are not your average 'John Doe', but qualified professional technicians and business owners with requisite interests to protect.
Magic Mouse? Magic Keyboard? Anything sound familiar?
I don’t know but how does Apple compare to other popular items for repairability?
At least Apple does something. Do other companies take recycling of computer, printers and phones like Apple’s recycling partner? Can you walk into a Microsoft store and just drop off items for no charge? I just recycled out 5 laptops and a printer at the Apple Store and by sending to their recycling partner for no cost.
Sooo...tell me what other companies are doing that.
Why do so many people assume that the entire top half (or whatever component) that Apple replaces is “trashed”? Like, do people really believe that the display, keyboard, battery and case assembly that Apple removes to fix a stuck key is just tossed in a bin to be immediately incinerated on site like “hurr durr screw the consumers and the planet hurrr”.
Then you also have to wonder, how are the Apple devices from their official refurbished store in such immaculate condition? I see some dots connecting...
Then you also have to wonder, how are the Apple devices from their official refurbished store in such immaculate condition? I see some dots connecting...
Spoken like someone who’s never had an iPhone.
If you’re not keeping your phone 3-4 years it’s your own fault.
No decent smartphone has had a removable battery in years.
Disposable? You must be talking Android phones. They’re such garbage they virtually never have OS updates. People have to change them so often that’s their path to a new OS. Aside from the fact they’re so cheap carriers have to almost give them away so the phones get market share.
Battery, throttling - whatever you have to tell yourself.
Apple have planted entire forests to basically supply their packaging, which I think I read was 100% from recycled materials. I read it in their official Environment progress report. https://www.apple.com/environment/
But you wouldn't have the know-how for opening the devices. They can't have every customer sign an NDA and pay licensing fees for their technology. You can't just repair Apple devices, all of them are proprietary, you have to pay royalties and get licensed. Just like the MFI program, you can't just design new Apple peripherals with Apple proprietary technologies.
[doublepost=1555648687][/doublepost]
Yeah, I think they should do it the way it's normally done in the B2B world. Every mac purchase should come with an annual maintenance support subscription. It should cover hardware repairs, software patches, etc, basically, a service subscription to keep the mac in order. This way, it's in Apple's best interest to keep the macs lasting as long as possible.
Last edited:
What if making a device more difficult to repair causes it to fail less often?
How do you calculate the net environmental benefit of reduced need for repair, but more resources needed when a repair is necessary?
1. the battery doesnt need to be inside and clued. it can be done very easy to be replaceable when it is needed. there are several laptops where battery is replaced just on ”one click” -way.
2. having ”easy repairable” can be done with originals parts from apple rather than 3rd party parts if only apple sold them for service centers.
3. people who doesnt know how to open and repair their computer by themselves can pay for services. but having only authorized ”premium priced” services is only for asking more money than making it possible to fix something if it is broken or upgrade when it is needed.
durable like macbook pros on recent years? cannot be more difficult to repair that it is already.
if a speaker fails, it surely is much environmental just to replace the tiny speaker than the whole uppercase (speakers clued on the uppercase in macbook pros)
if the screen cable fails, much envinronmental to replace the cable than the whole display (again macbook pros).
and so on...
when you need an upgrade, it is more environmental to replace the part you want to upgrade than the whole computer.
Last edited:
If only that were true. First, most states/countries don’t have any laws, and there’s no practical enforcement mechanism in any case. Second, most such repairs are done by people at home who buy kits from places like iFixit, etc.
[doublepost=1555673554][/doublepost]
All myths. Phones today last much longer than the early cell phones and, thanks to companies like Apple, are more recyclable, contain fewer harmful products, and are manufactured with 100% renewable energy.